music

I have a few minutes before it's time to go chat with a student about her plans for a future that I suspect will be very bright; she is one of the most outstanding students I've had the honor to work with.  Accordingly, I was monkeying around on the Web sites I usually check in the morning... blogs... email... our Netflix account... and I came across the TV program "Taxi" on our queue.  The program's distinctive theme music began playing in my head, and instantly I was transported back to a place of both safety and mystery.  My parents watched "Taxi" when I was a small child.  I know it must have aired slightly after my usual bedtime, because this was the music I would often hear if I got up and came into the living room for any reason.  I remember seeing the opening credits with their footage of a taxi cab gliding through New York at night, and I remember this music.  It was the music of being safely at home with my parents; it was the music of a world of adulthood I looked forward to joining some day, when I, too was up past 8 and experienced the things evening had to offer.

Other music does this for me, too, and I know others have similar experiences.  My husband, for example, has mentioned that music by the band "America" takes him back to his father's truck, coming home from school, as his younger sister insisted that Daddy play her favorite cassette tape in his collection once again.  I don't have time for deep theological reflection, but I do feel this: we are magnificently and intricately wired.  I am thankful for the gifts of memory.

Blessings to each of you this day.