So, I’ve been listening to my Christmas playlist since December 1! But there is something going on as well. I did not realize this until last night because I was eating a lot of chocolate! I can have the dove dark and mint chocolate and I bite it into four pieces. I usually just have one or three at most but I was eating them a lot and I couldn’t figure out why!
But then, it hit me. It’s December. December 28 is coming. This year, it will be 22 years since I was diagnosed with MS. I have had that for years more than half of my life and that just kind of hurts. So, I can’t get rid of the melancholy feel around this time as well so I’ll post the two songs that help me get through it:
I think I did this a couple Christmases ago. I made a playlist of all my favorite Christmas songs! The day after Thanksgiving, I am free to play that playlist constantly which is what I have been doing. I put my favorite song four times in a row on it to begin the playlist. Everyone knows by now what my favorite song is but if you have some sort of lapse in judgment, I will remind you:
I couldn’t understand why I had saved this song in my playlist. I grew up hearing it so I was familiar with it but I didn’t know why it was in my playlist until my Mom told me that she likes that song! That’s why?!
I have told everyone my favorite song and just this year, my Mom and I were watching The Santa Clause and my Mom mentioned that she likes the Carol of the Bells. So YOU KNOW that I had to add another song to my Christmas playlist!:
I added these two songs because my Mom likes them, that’s why!
This Christmas song will forever remind me of my cousins,Sal and Melinda, and their friend serenaded us one evening when we celebrated Christmas in Texas. The biggest thing that absolutely blew my mind was that we barbecued on Christmas day with my aunt and uncle!
I think it was a couple years ago when someone asked on Twitter our favorite version of the Christmas Carol, O, holy night. I interact with this guy a lot on Twitter because he tweets funny things! He tweeted a survey that gave us four options of a singer but then there was a fifth option, it was, “other,”
So I checked the other box and tweeted this video! He responded with just a, “Wow!” And I agreed in my response because I love this song! I have already listened to it a number of times since Friday!:
The whole reason I am saying this is because I am wearing a shirt I got a few years ago and it says, “Oh Holy Night” So I am going to post this blog post in hopes that you can still get the Jon Secada version of this song by clicking on the link.
Today is not an excellent day but I decided to watch my first Christmas movie of the year. It’s my very first after Thanksgiving movie and it’s completely fitting that it was Last Christmas.
I heard this song when she is sitting at the bar and turns down another drink and she goes home. This song is from when I was seven years old! At least that’s what I am thinking. It was summer time and we had our green carpet at my Parents’ house in our living room back then:
it looks like it is turning out to be a double feature today and I don’t mind at all!!!
I was playing a game on my phone the other day with my Apple Music playing and a random song came on and made me think of our second apartment. I can see myself sitting on the bench at the end of my bed (which I no longer have) tying my shoes. It was summertime:
But then I heard this song and I was reminded of when Sean probably was six. Maybe five? It was Christmas time and he asked me why Santa does not bring good kid’s Moms things. Well, you know that I HAD TO buy something for myself and this was the first thing I bought:
These songs are out of order but they definitely are songs from our second apartment soundtrack!!!
I am reminded of my early teaching days back when I used to be able to drive. If you haven’t figured out, I am playing Tile Triple 3D on my phone as I let my playlist play. That game is like Memory when I was a kid and it’s good for my hand eye coordination. I think I have been on level 200 for a month!:
I can see this music video playing on the TV in my dorm room at WMU. If I am recalling correctly, my roommate was in class and I didn’t have class for a while so I had just taken a shower after working out and I’m sitting on my futon watching music videos because MTV used to show them all the time 22 years ago!:
I just realized today when I was talking with Sean and my Mom that I pposted my very first blog post 9 years ago, today! I thought to write something important today but I don’t feel well at all! I will leave you with this:
This song reminds me of undergrad. It was summer time and I was deeply immersed in this album!!!:
As I ate my dinner tonight, which, at this point, is just overnight oats because that is easy for me to eat. I continued listening to my U2 playlist on shuffle and some of the songs I have saved onto the playlist are from the 2005 Vertigo Tour from the Milan show. I went to that show in 2005 with a bunch of my colleagues! I was going to go with my brother, Steve, anyway but Mr. Astalos was going to that concert so we all drove together!
it was my first year teaching and I even had a countdown number written on my front board for how many days until the concert! My students were excited for me because it was my, “Ultimate, favorite band”!!!
I even bought a DVD of that concert in Chicago at Target because it was the same playlist! I remembered sitting on the floor in my first apartment going to that concert a few times. I think I went a couple times in our second apartment as well. I don’t even have a DVD player now so I can’t even watch it but I don’t even know where it is! Hearing these songs took me back to my first apartment and even back to that concert!!!
I heard three songs from Milan and I appreciated being transported back in my memory to that great time when I was still able-bodied! I’m going to post these songs in the order in which I heard them on my playlist:
That was the opening song for the concert and I remember that Bono popped up from a trap door underneath that stage and I remember I gasped when he did that and thought, “We are sharing the SAME air!”:
That song is one of my jams! But this next one means so much to me because it reminds me of my Dad! I listened to that song on loop on my way to work with my sunglasses on before the sun was even up but I didn’t want to go into work with the red eyes because I cried the entire ride there:
I was sitting in the disabled seats kind of far from the stage and Bono started singing one of my favorites and I started singing it with him but he could not hear me so he stopped and said, “You don’t know this one? Maybe next time.” I screamed that I was singing but he couldn’t hear me and they changed the song but I THINK they started this one because they knew I was there and it’s one of my jams for real!:
I seem to be pasting duplicates onto my page so I will just put this on the bottom and you can listen to it again if you want to! I am 40 and I am having difficulty seeing! Forgive me! It’s great music if you want to give it a click though…:
The best part of this playlist is that I didn’t think about my pain the entire time I thought of that memory and the entire time that I am writing this post!
What I have found is that being on this journey for 21+ years, my vision is going and my pain level has increased and what I do is listen to my Apple Music U2 playlist! I put it on shuffle and just listen. It calms me. It makes it a little bit better… I really liked hearing this one today:
