The Soundtrack to my Life

My west coast friend Bruna of Bees With Honey, picked an awesome topic for last week's #MondayListicle:

“If they were to make a movie of your life what would the soundtrack be like? Share 10 songs that best tell the story of your life. Be sure to include the period or event that each song represents”.

Thanks to computer challenges, and life in general, I'm a little behind, but so be it! I don't want to miss out on this topic. My apologies to Jackie of Wifezilla who chose a great topic for this week too! Click here to read all about what I'm supposed to be writing about today.

Those of you who know me even a little, probably know how much I obsess over music. Well, you can imagine how excited I was when I read Bruna's topic choice. And then... anxiety set in (as if I needed anything else to be anxious about). Just ten songs to represent my whole life? No pressure!

1. Inch Worm - Anne Murray

The album, There's a Hippo in My Tub, has a special place in my heart. It was probably the first album (yes, I'm talking LPs) I owned and I played it over and over. All great songs - Inch Worm is particularly beautiful. I love to sing these songs to Jack.

2. All The Diamonds - Bruce Cockburn

LOVE this song still. I listened to a lot of Bruce Cockburn as a young kid. I think it's partly how I nurtured my activist tendencies.

3. Out Here on my Own - Irene Cara (Fame)

I sang a lot as a kid, especially big ballads like this one. Bit of a rough time in the teen years. Songs like this one gave me something to hold on to. Thanks Irene. What a voice!

4. I Will Not Forget You - Sarah McLaughlin

There is a certain someone who is lost for now, but who is still a part of me, and this song brings him closer to me each time I hear it. I will not forget you, angel.

5. I lost my mother and father in my late twenties. It's been more than a decade and it still breaks my heart. If my life really were made into a movie, this part of it, including the four years I cared for my mother before she died, would be the centrepiece. These two songs bring me to tears every time I hear them.
Hurt - Christina Aguilera

The Dance - Garth Brooks

I miss you both so much. I still wonder some days how to go on without you, and I still hurt when I think about how short your lives were and how difficult at times, but I'm so grateful for the time that we had.

6. Better in Time - Leona Lewis

Yes, it did, Leona. It did get better. Just look what happened next....

7. Moondance - Van Morrison

Love, LOVE this song. This song is 'our' song. My husband sang it to me early in our friendship and it's still the song I think of when I think of him and who we are together. Love you, big J!

8. Crazy for You - Adele

This is a song that I sung over and over and over when I was pregnant with little J. After his birth, whenever he cried I'd play this song. He was instantly soothed. There were times Crazy for You was on repeat in the car. Thanks Adele!

9. Breakdown - Jack Johnson

And here I am today. Somewhere on the path between breakdown and recovery. Still needing to slow the pace, yet working to increase my vitality. I love this song. It expresses the simultaneous beauty and frailty of life in the simplistic way that only JJ can.

10. Imagine - John Lennon

This is one to play at my funeral. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. What I'd like to see before I die? A world of dreamers, living this beautiful dream.

Bruna, thanks for that opportunity to link to some of the songs that have carried me through the years.

Come link up your listicle!