My Wife's Anniversary CDs

While it doesn’t always feel like it, it’s quite clear that time truly flies. In November of 2007, we were communicating with one another via e-mail, and then, on December 1, 2007, we were going to see Fred Claus. By February, we were taking in dinosaurs and national monuments in Washington D.C. with the feeling of fresh love in our minds. Less than a year later, we were getting engaged on October 11, 2008. About 2 and a half months later, we made the New Years Eve decision to get married on August 15, 2009, which has become THEE moment that became the greatest day of my life.
Everything after that night was a whirlwind of energy and planning to get to the Everybody Loves Raymond tribute. There were days spent journeying to the waterfalls of 6 different states, and there were afternoons and evenings spent wandering through the flowers of Longwood Gardens. There were beautiful vistas that we looked out from, and there were places of historic significance. There were moments spent walking in the footsteps of my grandparents, and there were moments spent creating memories for the future. There were trips to the biographical places of both of our lives. There were get-togethers with our families and friends. There was a lot of quiet time spent snuggling while watching mindless television. There was our house that gave us quiet time in the Siesta Zone with the fire fully blazing to the lowest branches of the tree, and there was food fresh from the Grill Zone. There were a lot of dreams, hope, and flowers. There was always a lot of flowers! And sadly, for the last 8 months, there was a lot of tough times thrust on us by the world, but with tough times, good things are sure to come, and I do believe that the best things are yet to come because I have you to make everything better.
In this, there was always you, and with you, all of the good things come.
I wouldn’t want to be in a world where I didn’t say, “I do.” I wouldn’t trade anything that I got with you for anything that anyone else could give me. You are beautiful and intelligent and kind and dedicated and wonderful to me. Your strength and understanding through all of the ups and downs that we have seen will continue to grow and keep us heading towards the Promised Land, where we walk on Caribbean beaches, climb in Californian mountains to get to waterfalls, gaze out on the geysers that rest above the super-volcano of Wyoming, descend into serpentine slot canyons in Utah, stroll along seaside walkways in Italy, and helicopter over Hawaiian volcanoes, beaches, and waterfalls. And while sometimes, it all might feel like these things are a million days away, time isn’t stopping, and we are heading towards our paradise, which is what keeps me going.
You are my everything.
Knowing that you’re thinking the same things that I’m about to say, dreaming many of the same dreams as me (you don’t think about slot canyons the way that I do), and feeling the same definition of love, romance, and future joys that will carry us through to greatness when all of this stuff with two job hunts mellows out in the very near future.
And while nobody is ever perfect and always everything that he or she should be, I long to be better and more patient and compassionate and expressive and kind and dedicated to making all of my promises of August 15, 2009, and the times before and afterward into something that is so precious and real in our lives. I know that there are possibilities… just as there were 2 years ago today when we drove into the sunset of western Pennsylvania to get married and to honeymoon in West Virginia with the promise of a masters degree and a new house and growing old together happening for us when we returned home.
I think of that, and I know that all is good. At my most optimistic, I can see the summertime glory of relaxing while drinking iced tea from mason jars and listening to mellow songs of an America that once was (and still can be) when we return from hiking to a serene waterfall (even if it was discolored from the runoff of the coal mines!). At my most pessimistic, I can feel defeated, but then I remember that you are my teammate, and that together, we can make it to the World Series of life (obligatory baseball reference). I can think of that and know that with love and goofiness, all things come. You are the person that I want to love. You are the woman that I want to impress by doing great things that just come naturally from inside me. You are the companion that I want with me when I see all of the good things that life has to offer.
HG… I love you more than anything. Happy 2nd of many wedding anniversaries!
The musical love letter of our anniversary - Disc 1:
1. Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes (The lyrics say everything about power, hope, and smallness - “I was raised up believin' I was somehow unique like a snowflake, distinct among snowflakes unique in each way you can see And now after some thinkin' I'd say I'd rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me.”)
2. Tomorrow from the Annie Soundtrack (she’s not quite Miley singing “The Climb” from the mountaintops, but when she sings “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you’re only a day away” I challenge you not to get goose bumps).
3. For the First Time by The Script (In all of the difficulties of life, there is frustration and this song captures that. Despite its radio friendly nature, there’s still something to it when they sing about getting through the problems that a bad economy can add to life in lines such as “Trying to make things work but man these times are hard”)
4. If I Had a Million Dollars by the Barenaked Ladies (What I wouldn’t do for you with 8-9 figures of Powerball winnings!)
5. I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times by Michael Penn and Aimee Mann (It’s actually a Beach Boys song, but it just seems to sum up the way it feels when everything that we do that we know is right just doesn’t work. When he stopped singing surfing and girl oogling songs, Brian Wilson was actually really introspective).
6. Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World by Israel kamakawiwo'ole (who would have thought that a ukulele a Hawaiian guy going all emotional over songs a half century old could express hope perfectly? Well, that and snorkeling amongst the denizens of island paradises?!!)
7. I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash (“the rain has gone… gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day.” And it really is, Pookie Bear.)
8. Wasted on the Way by Crosby Stills and Nash (“There’s so much time to make up everywhere we turn, time we have wasted on the way.” And there will be… and it will be good when the time comes. I promise.)
9. Mr. Blue Sky by ELO (“Sun is shinin' in the sky There ain't a cloud in sight It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play And don't you know It's a beautiful new day hey, hey” One can’t forget that Jeff Lynne of ELO was a Wilbury with George Harrison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan. How could a Wilbury not sing a song so optimistic and cheerful?)
10. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor (If ever there was an anthem to get through adversity, it was that of Sylvester Stallone getting ready to pummel the tar out of Mr. T, who I must say would still make a great GPS voice).
11. I’m Gonna Be 500 Miles by the Proclaimers (Would still be a great song, but it seems to represent How I Met Your Mother, which has become a part of the last several months of our lives).
12. Temptation by New Order (I love this song, but I would love it more if they did it in a slowed down acoustic version – kind of like the charcoal commercial where they play the Human League’s “Keep Feeling Fascination” – “I’ve never met anyone quite like you before.”)
13. Teenage Dream by Katy Perry (“I know you get me so I let my walls come down.” I don’t care how pop this song is because it’s actually radio music at its best. There’s something really vulnerable about the first lines of the song before it turns into repetitious dance music, and if you asked me, it would play well with acoustic guitars and a piano).
14. Hey Soul Sister by Train (Of all of the music for middle aged people (35-55), there’s something fun and nostalgic (the 80s references) about this, and frankly, I don’t want to miss a single thing that you do either).
15. When You’re Smiling by Frank Sinatra (this was playing at Longwood Gardens the last time that we went. The throwback 1920s group was jamming while we were eating ice cream, and frankly, this said, “this is what America and life is supposed to be.” I think you’ll agree).
16. Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest (Ok, it’s not Van Morrison, but it could be and it works really well for feeling happy and drinking iced tea or just driving down the highway and feeling good about the world)
17. Your Body is a Wonderland by John Mayer (Well, it is! And I will always love you and want to hold you close and just adore all that you are)
18. Moondance by Van Morrison (It’s always a marvelous night for a moon dance. Here’s to the late summer and autumn giving us time to get away and just stare at the stars and feel young and in love).
19. Broken by Jack Johnson (This was playing when we went to the beach in Delaware. It just makes me realize how much more whole and good I can be because of what your love does for me – even in the midst of feeling the world around me. “Without you I was broken, but I’d rather be broke down with you by my side.”)
20. One Love / People Get Ready by Bob Marley (they advertise Jamaica with this song. I think it’s a really good ending to the midpoint of these CDs and I really want to go be mellow in Jamaica with you! “Let’s get together and feel all right.”)
Disc 2
1. Nothing Compares to You by Sinead O’ Connor (while it may be a break up song, it’s still A) a song that was written by Prince, and that’s something good, and B) it reminds me of you singing eighties songs. And no matter what, I’ll always look forward to you being back by my side – no matter where we might be apart from one another).
2. Baby I Love Your Way by Peter Frampton (“I want to be with you night and day.” More mellow summer goodness that reflects what marriage is and should be about)
3. I’m Yours by Jason Mraz (Feel good summer stuff with a happy island adventure video to match. I’m ready for that kind of vacation.)
4. Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callet (“Lucky I’m in love with my best friend.” Nuff said.)
5. Lashes by Rhett Miller (“I could live on your love and nothing else if I had to.” For a guy who once sang angry cow punk, he sings a lot of songs about love, too.)
6. Everyday I Write the Book by Elvis Costello (I always thought this was a clever song, and being an expressive English teacher guy, I like the idea of how life can be a story or a movie. In that, I look forward to getting to the part where we’re sitting mellow on the beach at the end of the movie that we’re in (of course, it would be an 8 part series!))
7. You’ve Got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman (Like Up, Toy Story 3 says everything that matters about life, and this song is just really simple, and despite its playfulness, it reflects all the good things that life and marriage should be).
8. Your Love is the Place Where I Come From (There is something soaring and beautiful in the guitars as the lyrics melt into the mix and just carry you away to the glory of love and togetherness in spite of all things. “I disappear when you’re not here in my life”).
9. Desert Rose by Sting (If I think of an expression of you, I think of this song. Perhaps it’s the fact that you listened to it for an entire trip to Ohio.)
10. Pink Moon by Nick Drake (This song mellows you out, so I put it on here for you.)
11. In My Life by The Beatles (Ok, so it’s one of those overplayed video montage of life songs, but isn’t that what these lyrics are trying to do as they take us from the moments of frustration that should just drift away into the hope and optimism of all the things that are to come?)
12. Waste by Phish (All of the things that don’t need to be expressed perfectly into the poeticness of love that comes from the lyrics “come waste your time with me.” In that, it’s never wasted time being with the woman that I love more than anything in the world.)
13. Changes by David Bowie (When I was young, this was one of the first hip songs that I ever got into. Now that I’m old, I think it reflects so much of the transitions that life has given to me.)
14. I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack (This was playing when we drove home from West Virginia. I always liked it and felt that she was a much better country singer than 99% of what’s out there as they croon with southern twang while not being that lyrically different from the bubble gum pop that is on the radio. Maybe this is a little adult contemporary or graduation song oriented, but it still resonates clearly with its hopeful message.)
15. Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid Soundtrack (Ok, I’ve been looking at Travel Channel countdowns and Sandals ads way too long now!)
16. May This Be Love by Jimi Hendrix (Is there any reason other than the imagery of waterfalls and the lyrics that spill out from “nothing can harm me at all. My worries seem so very small” that say that this has to be on a CD compilation of love and all the good things that will come?)
17. Stars Fell on Alabama by Jimmy Buffett (A great song of summer love and the feeling of sitting in a hot tub watching life go by. I want to be sitting in a hot tub watching life go by under the stars – preferably not in Alabama, but anywhere romantic and with you will do!)
18. I Can Hear Music by The Beach Boys (Zooey Deschanel does a version of this, too, but I think the Beach Boys version is better, so I put it on here to drift through a sense of the power of music and summer and positive love all rolled together into one).
19. Ants Marching by Dave Matthews (Every time that we think that life and work and the rat race seems to matter, all we need to do is listen to this song – Dave Matthew’s best song done live – and know that nothing matters except the good things in life and pulling ourselves towards them and never losing track of each other amidst all of the white noise like the people in the song have done – time to stay under the table and just dream and bathe in the positive of life.)
20. The Joker by Steve Miller (I really love your peaches and will always want to shake your tree. I’m just saying.)
Thank you for 3 years and 8½ months of living, laughing, and loving. You are my bestest bestest.

Spring 2011 Happy Spring CD Discs

The Happy Summer CD is a concept that I have embraced for quite some time. In the beginning, it would be the kind of thing that would come about because of a lot of songs that were played over and over and that would make me happy while listening to them (1995). Not all of those songs were necessarily happy. They represented a time that I would refer to as the best and worst of times even while living through it. In hindsight, there are great memorable images and memories from my time in England, but leaving the UK was the event that made all things in my current life and the present life of the British gal that I was with possible. To this end, we're now happily married - just not to each other, and our lives have become many things for what we experienced together. I'm too American to ever go back to England and be expatriated again, but for what I had over there, it's made me the American that I am today.
Other times, the Happy Summer CD would be a mellow mix of songs that represented all of that vibe of the summer of love (or how a year that existed before I was born or came of age) sounded as a reincarnated memory of a time that never really was (1996). This year's mix was a lot of the same bands over and over, but it's still very listenable - even if it violates a lot of the rules of a traditional mix CD (such as no more than 2 songs by one artist - and they're on different sides of the mix - unless they run into one another).
And still other times, the summer mixes were a representative sample of music that would allow for road trips to function in sheer driving joy. (1998). The opening salvo of Hendrix > Phish > Moe > Weezer > Bare Naked Ladies is still an awesome memory of a 22-hour drive to Biloxi looking at the sides of the road and embracing a beautiful America in a most perfect expression that Walt Whitman himself would have felt honored by. It's also images from a coast to coast journey that was remembered and retried at other times, and for that, the music on the disc bring back a lot of memories - even if they're sung by Big Punisher (who needed to be weighed on a truck scale when he died - though by his own admission he had a lot of sex).
Not all Happy Summer collections turn out well. In 2002, there was the first happy summer CD, but it pretty much sucked, and I can't remember too much that's on there at all, and so I won't even mention anything that's on it. I still have it tucked away somewhere, but frankly, it's not like I'm longing to listen to it again.
Most of the music from that summer was a depressing haze of acoustic whine with a lot of alternative country and grunge stuff thrown in. I can't think that celebrated summer very much, so... Rather, it represented a stupid relationship that I carried on way too long (the first few weeks should have been enough, but as some relationships go, this went on about a year too long). Isn't hindsight and songs that brought giddy memories of the few good times and excessive memories of the mopey times things to learn from and then forget how you came to them forever?
To sum it up, Son Volt, Wilco, The Drive By Truckers, and Silver Jews were the best things that I was listening to in that summer of blah. When I finally went on my cross country trip, I had tons of acoustic / indie sadness on mp3, and there actually came a point where I wanted to throw everything out of the window and start fresh - instead of constantly carrying around the ghosts of a failed relationship, some doomed friendships, and a first year of teaching that wasn't quite as good as I wanted it to be. I was looking to heal from all of this via the road, the national parks of America, and a lot of music. There were a few brief minutes of something with images like the Milky Way over Mesa Verde, but the ghosts of America's archaeological park make the ghosts of life that much really. In the end, nothing worked until I finally got home and  heard Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" as the final song of the trip when I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex.
If you haven't heard it, it's a beautiful song.
The next year, there seemed to be more ground rules of what would be on the disc and less regurgitations of past happy summer stuff. For that same reason, there was happy summer driving music in 1999, but all things considered, there is no official tape until the next year's road trip. That's the good thing about CD mixes (over tapes); it's easier to record them in a quicker amount of time. You can get rid of what doesn't work and stick with what does. Thus, the later CDs have embraced multiple generations of the same disc or they have gotten longer to compensate for this rule. A tape took forever to make, and sometimes, there just wasn't enough hours in a day to redo a tape the way that it should be. It became a painting that didn't turn out, and it filled a tape case in hopes that it could be rediscovered years later and made into some nostalgic piece of something better.
Now, when I make mixes they're more diverse. Prior to meeting my wife, I listened to very little pop music. Sure, some of what I listened to got popular, but it usually came to me via someone else or it came to be because things that I listened to finally arrived as something that the world as a whole could digest. Over time, things have changed. In 1995, I embraced mainstream grunge (Pearl Jam) and classic rock while making peace with the Grateful Dead. In 1996, I embraced a whole host of sixties stuff, which led into coming back to America and doing Phish concerts until 1999/2000. Somewhere around the time I came back, I morphed into a lot of alternative country and went back for a lot of indie rock stuff around 2001. Now, my tastes are geared towards all those things, but as I travel with my wife, I do listen to pop and hip hop. As my life is consumed by teaching, I also tend to listen to a fair bit of mellow fifties, sixties, and seventies stuff to keep me upbeat and positive. This is in as much a part of listening to AM radio in England (coming across the channel - Radio Dingol or whatever it was - that's what it sounded like) as remembering a childhood that I have pieced together from memories (I'm obviously too old to remember many things from that far ago - just generalizations of what happened).
This year, there are 4 discs, and it's not a summer thing. It's a spring thing. I've been doing this since 2009. I couldn't wait for the happy summer CD (still just 1 disc long), and well...
The first disc is the seventies classic rock disc. The second disc is the fun CDs brought together and made better with new songs and the extraction of the Jackson 5. That's a good thing. The third disc is the mellow disc that doesn't necessarily work for driving since it takes things down about 30 notches from the energy of disc 2 (even with the show tunes ending). The 4th disc is the one I listen to the most because it features a lot of stuff that my wife likes (she just doesn't get James Brown, which is sad because I do and I would play him a lot more if she could handle songs that go that long).  Usually, we don't make it into the newer indie rock. It's the pop and the new wave that works for her. She loves her eighties music, and I can enjoy some of it, too. I tried to put some of that on here on an earlier version, and it just didn't work (Hall and Oates "Kiss Is on My List," Prince "Delirious," and Madonna "True Blue"), so they were removed for things that did work.
On my own, I listen to a lot of disc 2. The Spencer Davis Group does perhaps the best song of the late sixties ("Gimme Some Lovin") although Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" could be equally good on a lot of days (as could the Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart of Mine." I'm sure that if I ever heard Olivia Newton John covering "Gimme Some Lovin," I'd feel as betrayed as the Glee cast doing Jay Z's Empire State of Mind (and let it be known that I'm not that much of a musical snob - I do watch Glee and enjoy some of their versions).
The feeling that permeates much of this disc... points like the Bar Kays doing "Soul Finger" and Midnight Train to Georgia" (what is a "soul finger" or a "pip" for that matter)... it's a place in America that we all look forward to going back to. It's parties, picnics, sun, and fun. It's driving down the highway with everyone singing along... and everyone is looking to "get on the good foot."
That's the point of the spring CDs. Sure, there will be a true summer CD later. For now, let's let spring carry into summer as the longest day of the year goes and I await going home to some Yuengling and a seat in the Siesta Zone.

Disc 1
1. Neil Young - Love and Only Love
2. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced
3. Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
4. Faces - Stay with Me
5. Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman
6. Billy Joel - Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
7. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Call Me the Breeze
8. Charlie Daniels - Uneasy Rider
9. Bruce Springsteen - I'm Going Down
10. Dave Matthews Band - Crash into Me
11. Queen - You're My Best Friend
12. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
13. Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back
14. Cat Stevens - Another Saturday Night
15. Simon and Garfunkel - Mrs. Robinson
16. Beatles - Help
17. John Cougar Mellencamp - Pink Houses
18. Kansas - Dust in the Wind
Disc 2
1. Sam and Dave - Hold on I'm Coming
2. Spencer Davis Group - Gimme Some Lovin'
3. The Isley Brothers - This Old Heart of Mine
4. Chicago - Saturday in the Park
5. Jimmy Buffett - Margaritaville (live)
6. Paul Simon and Willie Nelson - Graceland (live)
7. Steve Miller Band - The Joker
8. Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday People
9. Eddie Floyd - Knock on Wood
10. The Staple Sisters - I'll Take You There
11. Jean Wilson - Mr. Big Stuff
12. Otis Redding - Respect
13. The Bar Kays - Soul Finger
14. James Brown - The Good Foot
15. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - You and Me and the Bottle Makes 3
16. 3 Dog Night - Joy to the World
17. Nancy Sinatra - These Boots are Made for Walking
18. Gladys Knight and the Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia
19. The Rat Pack - When You're Smiling / The Lady is a Tramp (live)
20. Little Mermaid - Under the Sea
21. Zooey Deschanel - Fabric of Our Lives
22. Tony Bennett and KD Lang - Dream a Little Dream of Me
23. Les Miz Cast - Master of the House

Disc 3
1. Grateful Dead - Uncle John's Band
2. Richie Havens - Here Comes the Sun
3. Randy Newman - You've Got a Friend in Me
4. 5 Stairsteps - Ooh Child
5. Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me
6. Jack Johnson - Bubble Toes
7. Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue
8. The Who - Magic Bus
9. The Doors - Love Her Madly
10. Crosby, Stills, and Nash - Marakesh Express
11. Beach Boys - Don't Worry Baby
12. Plain White Ts - Rhythm of Love
13. Michael Frenti - Say Hey I Love You
14. Madness - It Must Be Love
15. Dixie Chicks - Landslide
16. Pink Floyd - Summer of 68
17. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
18. Golden Smog - Cure for This
19. Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait
20.  Drive By Truckers - Everybody Needs Love
21. Otis Redding - Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

Disc 4
1. Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song
2. Jessie J - Price Tag
3. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
4. Black Eyed Peas - Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night
5. Prince - 1999
6. The Trammps - Disco Inferno
7. MGMT - Flash Delirium
8. Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
9. Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get
10. New Order - Run
11. Electronic - Getting Away with It
12. Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Heart in Your Heartbreak
13. Vampire Weekend - Horchata
14. Monsters of Folk - Gotta Lot of Losing
15. Police - Can't Stand Losing You
16. Girl Talk - Smash Your Head
17. Surfer Blood - Catholic Pagans
18. The Walkmen - Angela Surf City
19. The Baseball Project - Don't Call Them Twinkies
20. Camper Van Beethoven - Eye of Fatima 1+2
21. Best Coast - When I'm With You
22. Phish - Lengthwise