Thanks Mum

While listening to a song from the 1960's this morning, a memory emerged from my subconscious of my mother taking me to a diner we frequented together during that time. Without knowing it, she introduced me into the world of music. She died early last year after breaking her hip & battling Alzheimer's, but time cannot erase all of those songs I discovered during our visits to that local diner with its small jukeboxes at each booth.

She gave me what time she could spare. She worked for a living, so time was something she didn't have a lot of. Weekends were typically days spent cleaning, washing clothes, preparing Sunday dinner & shopping for food.

My love for music began at the age of four when my eyes first gazed with wonder & amazement at the small jukebox. The list of songs seemed to go on forever to me, as my little hands flipped the menu from page to page. There were times she could spare a nickle for one song, other times a dime for three. I figured out a way to outwit the company that manufactured the booth size jukeboxes, just before the last song would end, if I pressed a letter & number combination, I was able to play as many songs as I wanted without my mother having to pay another nickle or dime. I guess today that would be called hacking? I simply thought of it as outwitting the creators of a machine. 

The music that came from that mini jukebox the first time, filled me with enthusiasm.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm".

The source of the word is the Greek enthousiasmos, which ultimately comes from the adjective entheos, "having the god within," formed from en, "in, within," and theos, "god."

Over time the meaning of enthusiasm became extended to "rapturous inspiration like that caused by a god".

This accurately describes what I felt from that day to this one.

Music has various effects on pretty much all of humanity. It can instill calmness, happiness, reflection, the need to move or dance, conversation, ideas, peace or restlessness, garner support for a positive or negative cause as it's happened throughout history, it's timeless, mathematical, precise, calculated, and has inspired countless humans to feel joy or cry tears of sadness.

Music touches each of us in some way. I'm certainly no exception.

For that magical experience we call enthusiasm and my first taste of such an important part of my life, I thank you Mum.  

 

To anyone that takes the time to read my blog, a big thank you. I don't write every day nor do I want to. Perhaps there's an unwritten rule that a blog should be daily to attract as many readers as possible, but that's not important to me. Sharing a part of me with you, and hopefully what I write may bring us a little closer together as brothers and sisters is all that matters to me.

Best wishes.