Me with my big sister, Bonni

It was my birthday yesterday and my wonderful sister emailed me an iTunes gift certificate since I am not stationary long enough to receive packages. It was the perfect gift as I have been wanting to go through all my blogs from the beginning of this journey and make a playlist of the songs that I have included. There were a lot more of them than I thought, 28 to be exact. So thanks to my sister and iTunes I now have all the songs on a playlist. I listened to it this morning as I walked in the woods with tears streaming down my face. So many memories of places, people, and experiences;  I lived the emotional arc of my last 4-5 months once again.

I learned this week a little bit about multiple intelligences, put forth in studies by Howard Gardener. The basic idea is that people have different ways of interacting with the world and we learn and understand in different ways. One way may be more dominant in you than another, “it’s not how smart we are, but how you are smart.” The musical intelligence represents people who have the capacity to think in music, hear patterns, and learn with rhythm and sound. I must have this one in spades because as I wrote my blog I shared about 28 songs that had a very personal impact on me recently. I find that extremely informative in how I relate to the world and gather information. Music represents my life.

My sister writes music and I can’t help but realize that we both have this intelligence in greater measure than some of the other intelligences (like logical/mathematical). Sharing this with her is a delight and shows how in tune we are (“tune” ha!). Being like her is delightful and to have her give me a musical gift that makes my life richer is not surprising. We, like many little girls, grew up singing Sisters from Irving Berlin’s White Christmas movie, so appropriately it comes to mind, along with blue feather fans, Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby and laughter…

Sisters, sisters 

There were never such devoted sisters… 

All kinds of weather, we stick together 

The same in the rain and sun 

Two different faces, but in tight places 

We think and we act as one…

I share my song list here, just to have a record, and to let you visually see my progression too. I encourage you to make your own life song-list as you go through the next part of your year or as you look back. It will reach parts of you differently than photos or printed words. It may just take you down new exciting pathways.

Looking for Space (John Denver)

Pegasus (John Denver)

Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)

Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver)

Honey, I’m Home (Shania Twain) 

Moon River (Johnny Mercer)

Ol 55 (Eagles)

Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)

Heart to Heart (John Denver)

Hitchhiker (John Denver)

Longer (Dan Fogelberg)

Sittin’ at the dock of the bay (Otis Redding)

La Vie En Rose (Edith Piaf)

Perfect (Pink)

Making Love Out of Nothing At All (Air Supply)

Rocky Mtn High (John Denver)

Daydream (The Lovin’ Spoonful)

I hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack)

Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine Show)

Secret O’ Life (James Taylor)

Angel Eyes (Love and Theft)

Feels Like Today (Rascal Flatts)

Friends (Elton John)

I Know Where I’m Going (Burl Ives)

The Black Hills of Dakota (Doris Day)

Life’s a Dance (John Michael Montgomery)

Free and Easy Down the Road (Dierks Bentley)

This Is Country Music (Brad Paisley)

I Got a Name (Jim Croce)