My life's soundtrack

When I worked graveyards with my bestie Eric, he would let me choose each song we listened too, and then he would ask me why it spoke to me.  He let me do it for hours upon hours, shift upon shift.  I loved it.  I don't work graves with Eric anymore, plus he's heard everything I've ever had to say....twice.
So sit down and I'll tell you all about it.  The song titles are links so you can even listen along if you'd like.  It'll be fun.

This is my Youtube playlist and it goes like this:

Aerosmith- What it Takes  Ohhhh yes.  I love Aerosmith.  I can scream like Steven Tyler.  My kids hate it, and all their music.  So I listen to it all the time, and THIS is my favorite Aerosmith song.  Reminds me of college and Holly.  My favorite line?  "Girl before I met you, I was F.I.N.E. fine."  This is clean-the-house music.  It speaks to my rebellious side.... which is alive and well.

Pink- Please Don't Leave Me   This is my frustrated song.  My marriage hasn't always been easy.  Who am I kidding, it's never been easy.  Addiction is a horrible thing and for me, on the outside fighting my guts out for the man I married, I often feel totally conflicted.  And that's what this song is all about.  I could kill him.  I'll never stop fighting for him.  In the end, I often feel like I am screaming to the real Greg, deep in there, Please don't leave me.

Sublime- Rivers of Babylon  What?  You've never heard it?  You're missing out.  I don't listen to much Sublime, but I do really love this song.  It makes me think of my brother.  Whom I love dearly.  This song reminds me of his druggy years, and in turn it reminds me that miracles do happen, and there is always hope for those you love.  AND it's scripture....and reggae.  How can that be wrong?

Jack Johnson- Better Together  We so are. And I dig his name. 

Blackstreet- No Diggity  Yep.  If this song surprises you at all, you don't know me as well as you think.  This song has so many college memories tied to it.  It instantly makes me smile.  I used to crank this song up while driving the little blue truck.  When I was carrying Halle, I used to play it and turn up the bass.  She loved it.  Greg has always hated it.  I couldn't care less.  I like the way you work it...

K-Ci and Jo Jo- All My Life  I am not ashamed!  I love this song.  I used to listen to this and dream about feeling this way about someone, someday.  And do you know what?  It happened.  And do you know what else?  Greg hates this song too.  We really aren't musically compatible...

Guns N' Roses- Don't Cry  Back to the rebellious years.  It's therapeutic to look back at your past self and realize who you are now.  And although I still like me some GNR, I have mellowed to the ballads.

Survivor- Eye of the Tiger  I don't know why I love it.  Maybe because it was on Greg's running "tape" before I knew him and I like to imagine him running for football at the Y.  Maybe because my favorite quote of all time is from a Rocky movie.  Maybe because the Italian Stallion is hot.  Probably all of the above.

Kenny Chesney- That's Why I'm Here  This is the AA song.  I have bawled my eyes out to this song more times than I can count.  It reminds me that the road I have/am walking is not unique to me.  It is such a common road that there is a song.  And it's comforting to know that the disease of addiction is so similar from person to person...and there is hope.  People have conquered this many times.  There is a way out.

Andy Gibb- I Just Want to Be Your Everything  I know, Aerosmith and Andy Gibb?  I'm complex.  This is a Greg song that I learned to love.  I know every word.  I remember singing it at the top of my lungs with my kids in car seats in the back.  Jack still faced backward.  I do an awesome Andy Gibb.

Miley Cyrus- Party in the USA  I may be a tid bit ashamed of this one.  I can't help it.  I love it.  Especially the "So hard with my girls not around me" line.  I had girls once.  And moving on with life after high school alone was scary.  Guess what?  They are still around me.  I have been incredibly blessed with friends in every chapter of my life.  This one's for "My Girls"....you know who you are.

Nappy Roots- Good Day  I listen to this song all the time.  It's my pep talk song, and geez have I needed it.  I heard it on a commercial, googled it and have loved it ever since.  I even have a snazzy little dance that I do when I sing it.  It includes snapping.  Oh yeah.  I've got moves.

Macy Gray- Teenagers  Be warned, this song has....a curse word.  And I don't care.  I LOVE it. I'm not sure it's the lyrics that I love so much as the beat and sound.  And it's Macy Gray.  Come on.

George Strait- One Night at a Time  It was May of 1999.  Greg and I had been dating and he had confessed his love to me.  I wasn't sure.  I wasn't convinced that I was "in love" with him.  So we went to Boise for a weekend to stay with my friend Ruby and her husband Chris.  We were on our way home in the Bronco, Greg was driving and I was laying down with my head on his thigh.  He turned this song on, and sang it to me.  And it was at that exact moment that I fell in love with him.  It was an incredible moment I will never forget.  I've still "Got my fingers crossed that this goes on and on..."

Ingrid Michaelson- The Way I Am  I love it.  It was on a CD I listened too on the commute to the Answering Service.  My kids do the claps. 

Shawn Colvin- I Never Saw Blue Like That  When we first got married, we all realized that you could burn CDs.  (It was 1999)  It was amazing, and my mother in laws computer could do it!  We all downloaded songs and made some.  My sister in law downloaded this song.  I had never heard it, but saw it on her list.  I loved it. I still do.  Thanks Kaylyn.

Kenny & Dolly- We've Got Tonight  This is my all time favorite Kenny song.  And I like it with Sheena Easton or Dolly....although I love Dolly.  Mostly, I love this video.  I love the way he looks when she starts singing.  I love her sense of humor.  I love the song.  Eric and I used to sing this during those graveyard shifts.  He always wanted to be Dolly.  Those are really wonderful memories.  He was my rock for some really hard years.  So many times I cried myself to work, and he picked up the pieces and put me back together.  I'll be forever grateful for his patience, and his good to the core advice.  He never steered me wrong and more than that, he validated me and encouraged me to keep moving forward.

Alan Jackson- Remember When  I saved this one for last.  It's my song of hope.  Hope that one day I'll dance with the man I married and this song will be our reality.  There's been joy and hurt for sure.  And I'm certain we've fallen apart and broke each other hearts.  But there is the ever present hope and faith that healing can happen, and our love can and will be found.  We can find trust and vow to never give it up.  I hope to one day look back at all the years of struggle and be able to say I would do it all again.  Trials change who you are.  And I hope I'll be glad for all the life I've had, the strength it's given me, and the person I've become because of it.  And I hope that Greg will find his way back from the hell of addiction... and back to me.  It's true that hope floats to the top, and this song represents that for me.