Last week I traveled with my sister to our parents' house for our grandmother's funeral. We spent 13 hours together in a car heading south on Tuesday, and 13 hours together in a car heading north on Friday. During that time, my sister played me several of her spotify play lists. Most of her musical choices, I really enjoyed. One of the play lists, not so much. ;) She introduced me to several new (to me) musicians and lots of songs I'd never heard before. One of her current favorite groups turned out to be one my daughters love, but she played different songs than the ones they are often singing, so I didn't realize it.
As I was thinking how totally out of touch I am, I wondered what happened? I used to always have music playing and I was usually singing. I enjoyed a variety of music styles, and I loved discovering new genres and artists that spoke to me. Much like my daughters today, with their mp3 players.
Part of the problem is that we live in the country and my radio choices (at home) are country or a secular pop station. (I listen to country in the car.) The other issues is that I have a large family, and young children. Listening to secular radio with young children around is dangerous, and we have no Christian stations that reach our home and few that even reach our town. Add in the sheer noise level of a home with 11 people in it, and we often just can't handle the extra "noise" that even our favorite music becomes.
We also have equipment issues. First, my sound system in the living room kind of broke. The radio receiver no longer receives and the cd player can't play above a quiet level or it just shuts off. Next, my CD-rom drive in my computer broke. I can still use the DVD player and tv to play music, but that means no one can watch tv. I usually get through a CD once before someone has a tv show, movie, or exercise dvd they want to watch. I could hide in my bedroom all day long listening to that CD player, but I doubt that would go over well with my family. I don't own an MP3 player and even if I did I'd have to use someone else's computer to rip CDs and sync them to the MP3 player since my disc-drive is broken.
I'd love to have spotify or other online music options, but our satellite internet limits just don't allow for listening to music. We also don't have smart phones or phones with data plans, so we can't use our phones to listen to music. Last of all, there are the cost issues with buying CDs or even music downloads on a regular basis. Most of the time, new music just isn't in the budget.
So, I'm grooveless. I rarely listen to music, and I rarely sing. I LOVE to sing! I miss music. I need to find a solution that returns music to my life, but I'm not sure what that will be, or when it will be. Steve still listens to music as he drives to and from work each day (90 miles each way) though he often chooses to listen to talk radio instead. He can even listen to Christian radio stations for most of the drive. Maybe I'm grooveless until more of the kids are grown and the house is quieter. That seems really sad, though.
Missing my groove,
April E.
