The Final Puzzle Piece

Eyes closed, body swaying, melody flowing ear to ear...it all clicked. 

In that moment I realized the very thing that had been missing. Just as I had done so many times before, I opened my eyes at the concert. This time, with a glimmering new awareness.

I don't think the artist even made a difference. Nor the breathtakingly beautiful venue. It wouldn't have mattered much what kind of day I had earlier. The catalyst was the pure reconnection to one of my primal needs that had been laying dormant, dissatisfied, and overgrown for far too long.

Music has been a large part of my life from a young age.
I can still recall the anticipation of playing fur elise on the piano from memory, hands dancing on the keys and heart hanging onto the hope that I wouldn't mistouch a key and ruin the chords.

When I see a ring box, I'm taken back to my 16th birthday. Opening the box so slowly, just knowing it held a secret. The rush of excitement when I saw the guitar picks hiding within, and a feeling of relief when I held my Ibanez for the first time. The sorrow I felt when I realized that, despite my determination, I was not cut out to play. That was indeed my first real breakup, and it was painful.

High school years filled with tours, basement concerts, and my best friends serenading each other into the endless hours of the night.

That simple feeling of enjoying the present moment when you close your eyes at a show and know that this is the only time the concert will ever occur on that day, at that venue, with that crowd - each one unrepeatable in its essence. 

Or the comfortable ability to spend time with someone, no words necessary, just an album humming in the background,

Just as I had done so many times before, I opened my eyes at the concert. I felt a rush of simultaneous sadness and relief. Sadness that I had lost touch with myself in such an elementary way, but relief to have realized it.

Ahh, life. It endlessly overcomplicates itself if we allow it to. In reality it's so easy to go back to basics and find the simple joy of living - if we allow ourselves. Cheers to music for being a constant in my life, even in the years that I've failed to recognize it.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to basics - you can find me in my Chucks dancing around my living room to something that moves me <3