The other day I wrote about how much I love music, how it’s one of my everyday gratitudes. Which set me to thinking: what would my life’s soundtrack be? What would I like to exit to?

You have to realise: I picked out the music to take w/ me to the birthing centre to have my first son… 🙂 It had to be just soooo. (In case you’re wondering? I took Ralph Vaughn Williams, among others.)

I filled my suitcase with music when my father brought me home to college. It was more important to me to get the music right for my wedding than the dress (surely an aberration for most brides?). I’ve already told my sons what I want them to play at my memorial, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere.

So the soundtrack of my life is a kind of wonderful thing to think about. And it’s a bit of a gratitude thing, as well: gratitude that my folks paid for years of piano lessons. Gratitude that my mother danced to Glen Miller, Louis Armstrong, and show tunes with me when I was a little girl. Gratitude that both of my sons have shared their musics with me for most of their lives.

What would your life’s soundtrack include? How would you orchestrate the low places? The peaks, the valleys, the dark spaces and the bright? Your losses, your gifts…? I’m thinking… Pachelbel, for sure. Bach, too. A little Vivaldi, and the classics are represented. They do for both highs & lows. The dark places? Tracy Chapman, Bruce Springsteen, classic jazz (so many old blues players, too). I want a LOT of holiday music — reminding me of the years ticking away like a too-quick clock.

Think about it. What songs do you want to hear behind the ribbon of your life?