Welcome to the all new Celebrate Monday. We’ve retooled the feature to help you become a better memory keeper (with a focus on journaling) plus made it even easier to participate!
Celebrate Monday is a weekly journaling exercise designed to help you get back to basics and find more joy in your memory keeping.
Each week we’ll give you a prompt and you’ll be asked to select a story from your everyday life to share with us in the comments.
The idea is simple! Strip away the extras for a small moment to practice writing and center yourself on what is most important: the memory.
This week’s prompt:
The song that always takes me back is…
My Monday Memory
There are so many songs that remind me of certain periods in my life. I love that music forms a soundtrack for our stories. I remember riding in my dad’s 1961 Chevy that ‘we’ (I was around 5 or 6 at the time) refinished. We would go for long drives in the country belting out tunes, listening to songs like Little Old Lady from Pasadena by Jan and Dean on the cassette player. I grew up listening to oldies with my parents and didn’t really discover contemporary music until I was older. I wonder, will my daughter one day consider the songs from my teens (Hootie and the Blowfish, Barenaked Ladies etc.) “oldies”?
How to Participate
- Select a favorite story, from past or present, related to the prompt.
- Share the memory by journaling in the comments on this post.
- Spread the celebration by commenting on stories from others.
The song that immediately came to mind is, “Let My Love Open the Door” by Pete Townshend. I don’t know when I first heard it, but I fell in love… and my sophomore year in college, my boyfriend’s roommate (who had become a good friend of mine) and I would call the local radio stations and request it (remember, this is before the days of downloading music on a whim from iTunes or playing songs on demand from YouTube).
We would think of ever-increasing sad stories to convince the deejays to play the song… like I was dedicating it to my fiancé who was about to leave for active duty in the military, or that his girlfriend had just dumped him and this song was the only way to win her back. When it would finally play (and we succeeded maybe only one in ten times!), we’d drop everything and dance. Oh my gosh, it was the epitome of carefree youth!
Flash-forward a few decades, and I am watching Steve Carell play a lovelorn widower in the sleeper hit, “Dan in Real Life.” Suddenly, he and Dane Scott start a heart wrenching version of this very song — and I fall in love all over again.
There are some songs meant for a season, some meant for a reason, and some meant for a lifetime. This one’s a keeper.
The song that will always stick in my head is “smile”. My best friend was staying with me at the hospital after my 6 month old had brain surgery. It took 3 weeks to finally get his diagnosis. During that time she would sing that song to him to calm him down… and I think it worked on me too. That song will always be bittersweet and hopeful for me.
Music makes me feel very connected to my own emotions; my inner self.
Thirty-seven plus years ago the song “We’ve Only Just Begun” was played at my wedding. The song not only signified our new start together but an entirely new life for me that I desperately wanted. It was my new beginning, my new life. I will always treasure the song.
Thirty-one plus years ago, my daughter was born and I sang the song “Chim Chim Cher-ee” (from Mary Poppins”) to her nightly as I held her close to me. The song evokes the feel of her, the scent of her and most of all our deep and loving connection.
Five plus weeks ago my daughter gave birth to my granddaughter. We are connected by song too. “Chim Chim Cher-ee”, “Dominque”, and “Five Green and Speckled Frogs” are our favorites.
Music is wonderfully connective.
The song that takes me back is Benny and the Jets. It is hardly ever played anymore. But it is the song that was playing when I met my husband. Whenever I hear that song I always remember that day and time. Think I will put it on my ipod. Precious memories.