toodling and tuning

Lately, I've been listening to lots of music.  Some of it are the tunes I favored in my young adult years, thru my teens, into my twenties~~Melissa Etheridge, Joan Osborne, Tracy Chapman, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Sinead O'Connor, and a healthy dose of 80s {we were ever that young?!?}.  Some of it is what I grew up with, the records my folks played by artists who have made lasting impact on so many more than me.  These are the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Miller Band and what we might now consider classic rock, or even southern rock.  Some are current or fairly recent finds, but most are reaching back thru the years because its not just the music that I'm experiencing, but the memories evoked, the feelings so strongly associated with each of those songs, musicians, albums, time period, etc.

I usually find music to match the mood I am in or the mood I want to be in.  Sometimes I miss the mark altogether and end up thrusting myself into some angst ridden hidden memory that was full of such rawness that it takes my breath away, feeling such compassion for the me of that time, who was so tender, so powerful but unaware or unprepared, or both.  I was able to be with those aching hurting me of then.  Sometimes that younger version of me was experiencing such unbridled joy, that even now just listening to that music and experiencing the memories of that time made the me of now grin and belt out the lyrics with such exuberance that fellow drivers in other vehicles were startled by my flailing arms.

That's the thing about most of the music I've been listening to lately; it begs to be played while I am alone, in my car, driving and riding, thru town, along back country roads, taking in the sights of lovely lush Mississippi summer verdant fecund vegetation and stopping in the tunnels of tree limbs arched over me into protective canopies that soothe my soul like the best balm ever.  There are a few locations in the area that I've discovered in my ramblings and if I go there at the right time, just as the sun sets, or the dusk dims the heat of the day, or as the rain swollen clouds darken the skies, I feel as though I can taste life right at that moment, a slice of being completely present right then and there.

So if you see a ten year old, slightly dented and worn, dusty hatchback in your neck of the woods with a woman emoting her bliss, her ecstasy, an odd sort of angst that harkens back to times gone by, chances are it may be me, driving along, singing my song, wandering around, checking the sights, enjoying our summer while it lasts.