Strange Magic

I have been hearing a LOT of ELO lately for some reason. Driving in the car, watching TV or a movie, getting groceries last night...It's like a sign, like it's haunting me, telling me I need to remember these things and write about them. Don't forget how it felt, the pain or the beauty, these songs are telling me. It startles me every time. I can barely move. People see me frozen in the middle of the grocery store, staring into space, completely taken over by a vague memory of a person, event, or just a brief but intense emotion.

One of my favorite movies has a theme about memory; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I could watch this movie over and over. Most of us have some particularly painful memories that we would like to erase. People that have done us harm, events or bad decisions that have damaged our psyche, memories that make us nauseas upon remembering. I know I have said more than once that I would like to just eradicate a person or a day, or even a year from my life completely, thinking that then I would be happy. What if all we had were happy memories? Would we really be happy? Would we be the same person we are right now?

Of course not. Without the nastiness in my life, I don't think I would be as able to appreciate all the beautiful, amazing things around me. I wouldn't be able to relate to others, have as much compassion or desire to do great things. Those horrible, painful things that happen to us, the hard times that we all struggle through make us who we are. There are layers to each of us, layers that we can hide or choose to share. Or write about.

In a twist of fate, ELO has a song on the soundtrack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This song is on my mp3 player and Garrett always asks to listen to it. Sometimes we listen to it together. Now you can listen too, if you so choose.