Music makes my life complete.  When I saw that Helene came up with the topic of “songs that define me”, I got so excited to read what people wrote and find some new music to jam out to.  I didn’t think I would be able to come up with songs that define me.  Instead, I keep thinking of songs that define a period of my life.

When I was growing up, my dad always made sure that I was loving his music and we would have sing a longs in the car to the Allman Brothers, Neil Young, the Jayhawks, Bob Dylan and many, many more.  I can just close my eyes and picture cruising the windy roads in Northern MN in the backseat while my dad is playing drums on the dashboard and singing along.  He would always quiz me on the band and the song name.  One of my favorites today that came from my father is Jackson Browne.

After elementary school, my father wasn’t super proud of the music choices I decided on.  I wrote about that here when I talked about “rap crap.”  It’s one of my dad’s favorite blog posts too.  These two songs might be total opposites, but they both remind me of middle school.  The first for the obvious reasons of my rap obsession and the second because Now & Then was my favorite movie and I was constantly searching for friends that could help me recreate the movie… problem was, everyone wanted to be Christina Ricci’s character and that didn’t work for me (thank you Devon Sawa.)

High school was a little all over the board for me.  I loved just about every kind of music.  It’s hard to think of any songs that really stick out for me.  College was a lot of the same, but there are two songs that always make me think of my roommates and I can’t help but smile every time I hear them.

Like I said, I’m a little all over the map.  Since graduating college, I’ve found a few songs that I could listen to over and over again because they just “sing” to me.  They remind me of some important lessons.  I could say that they are a few of my favorites.

Last, but not least, there are a few songs that involve a full jam out/dance session where I play musical instruments and sing at the top of my lungs… and I will never get sick of them.

So there it is.  Hope you’re jamming out.  Can’t wait to read everyone else’s.

Helene in Between