Laden with Thoughts

My favorite birthday present from the last couple of years is the U2 video iPod, given to me by my generous parents and husband. I confess, although I am crazy about how useful and fun the iPod is, the true reason I love it is that it has the signatures of Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry etched onto it.

So. Fabulous.

These days I’ve been listening to my music a lot more than I’ve been listening to the radio, which is a big change from previous months. (Partly because Liam has started to really understand language and repeats whatever he hears over and over again… it was time to stop listening to “It’s just you and your hand tonight”.) It’s been nice to hear songs and albums I haven’t listened to since high school and college, some of which inevitably bring back both silly and serious memories from those days. I love that music evokes strong feelings in me, and reminds me of people and places I’d long since forgotten.

For example, “Flood” by Jars of Clay is a reminder of my first high school youth group missions trip, where I realized I truly wanted to dedicate my life to Jesus. (It was also where I became friends with Josh. We started dating 6 months later.) My friends and I would cram ourselves into 15 passenger vans each morning, excited and nervous about the work we would be doing that day, and sang “BUT IF I CAN’T SWIM AFTER 40 DAYS AND MY MIND IS CRUSHED BY THE CRASHING WAVES” at the top of our lungs.

I’m feeling a little stuck musically now, however. I still enjoy all my old music, but I really haven’t bought much new music since being married and having children, and I’d love to get back into the habit of finding new artists and albums that move and uplift me. Plus, I’m making new memories now, and in ten years I hope to have albums that I can take out and listen to that remind me of these days with my children.

So, kind readers, would you offer suggestions of what music I should add to my iPod? What music moves you, encourages you, makes you feel a certain way when you listen to it?