When your day is going crazy, and there's so much going on, everyone is demanding something of you, and you're frustrated to no end, do you have a reset button?
I do. Three or four of them, more accurately. On my computer at work, I've got
a very short playlist of songs that mentally help take me away from whatever is extremely stressful but ultimately insignificant. I realize that this is just one issue, just one day, and I've been through more.
"Take Me" is a song by The Darins. When I got the CD, "Take Me" was instantly my favorite, even though it wasn't a radio single or anything like that. It just reminded me of the awesome girl from The Darins I'd gone out on a couple dates with, but I was sure was going to stop because why would this smart, gorgeous blonde-haired, blue eyed girl from southern California like some Indiana farm boy. I didn't know it at the time, but that was the one song that girl sang lead on on the whole CD. The song is meant to say to God "Take Me", but in my head, she was talking to me, and I was like "Heck, yeah, I will take you!" And now we've been married about 11 years and counting.
You've heard of "1, 2, 3, 4" by the Plain White Tees, right? Yeah, no one has. I heard it on the radio exactly twice. I didn't really notice it the first time I heard it, but the second time it came on, my two little girls in the back of the car started yelling, "Daddy, daddy, turn it up! That's your song!" Given the counting and the simple nature of the song, the girls had remembered it, and I guess since they felt I made them count all the time, it became a "Daddy Song". That was one of the first times they'd come up with something that I hadn't taught them, and it really occurred to me that they were their own little people, which is sometimes a mind-blowing thing to a dad. So I downloaded it, and it reminds me they're their own people.
My grandma Nanny Yi was a tremendous jazz pianist and really developed the love of the music Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire, and other greats, and passed it along to her children all the way down to her great grandchildren. But the song of hers that really gets me wasn't from the 40s and 50s. When she passed away, I was put in charge of making a CD of her favorite songs to pass out to family members after the funeral, and one of the aunts asked me to add "Just The Way You Are" by Billy Joel. Seriously? That's not exactly an oldie. But it was something my grandpa frequently asked her to play for him. After listening to the lyrics, I can see why. It talks about not needing all these things, just someone to talk to, someone to love just the way you are. Maybe a little cheesy, but that doesn't mean its not someone we all need to have.
There are a couple more, but you get the picture. I can listen to these, and realize that I'm incredibly blessed that I got to actually marry my dream girl, that I have these two little humans that are growing up, and even though the last one makes me miss my grandparents, it's great to know they loved each other, and set the example of how to love each other.
So what is your reset button? What do you have to rise about the current hectic issue of the day and refocus?
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