One of my favorite childhood memories I like to look back upon occurred in the little living room inside of my family’s old yellow-brown brick house. Our TV and sound system was located in the very front of the room, and our couch and other sitting furniture was wrapped around the edges of the room because of the style back in the ’90s. Anyway, I remember how I used to stay glued to the television all day when my grandmother kept me while both of my parents worked, nothing could peel me away from Arthur and Barney. Some afternoons, when my mother and father would come in from a long, tiring day of work, they’d switch off the TV and bring the gigantic gray stereo to life. However, I didn’t mind this at all, in fact this is what I loved the most, and I can still vividly remember it to this day.
Music filled my ears and swayed through my body as I uncontrollably began to dance to ‘80s and ‘90s pop and rock n’ roll music. I shifted my little body over to the speakers of the gray stereo, where my head barely reached the shelf, to get a closer feel of the music and jump up and down with the song’s rhythmical beat, the best part of any song. Smiles spreaded across my parents tired faces which were gazing down at their little girl whose brown curls were springing to life with each movement she made. The second best thing other than the beat of the music was the lyrics. If the lyrics were hard to learn, didn’t make sense, or bored me I determined the song was weird, and if the beat in a song wasn’t fast, catchy, or rhythmically exciting I would sit down and wait for the next song to pop to life. “We Got the Beat” by the Go-Go’s was my favorite song out of all the options my parents’ cassettes had to offer because they possessed the beat/lyric combination I desired. I’d hop up in the air, spin, clap my hands, shake my body, and make up moves to go along with the song while my parents released little giggles and sang along with the music. Ever since at a young age music has played an important part of my life, and I didn’t know it at the time, but it would later serve as a big influence over what I would want to become in life.
When the early middle school years came I made sure to have a CD player and plenty of CD’s when I arrived home from school. Middle school was the toughest school years for me because I wasn’t very sociable and had a difficult time making new friends, so as a result, after I got home each school day I’d release myself from the tough day by popping in a Miley Cyrus or Kidz Bop CD and allow myself to dance around until homework time. I had discovered music was my escape from everything, my chance to have fun, be creative, and let loose. Soon after my realization, I began to attempt to write my own songs and perform them in my bedroom. Of course none of them were ever meant to be number one hits, but I kept some of them for safe keeping anyways. It wouldn’t be till the time I’d be halfway through high school I’d see my middle school songs again, realize my dreams, and actually be able to integrate my love for music into it.
At the end of my freshman year in high school I discovered God had blessed me with the ability to pour out everything on paper and write. I had known I’d always been good at writing short stories and essays for my classes, I had just always over looked it when thinking about what to do with my life. In my eyes writing was viewed as something someone had to do, almost as a chore with a passion of hatred towards it. But soon it hit me, writing is just like music. You are telling the story, you decide what the story is going to unfold just like a singer/songwriter decides what his or her song is going to be about. You are able to add your tone, your emotions, your outlook, and your individual personality just like that of a singer/songwriter would in his or her song. When you write, the plot of your story is similar to the beat of a song, catchy, exciting, and makes you want more. Your words in a piece of writing are the lyrics to a song, they make sense, intrigue, and incorporate powerful emotion to your audience.
After apprehending music and writing basically go together hand in hand, I rambled through my desk droors in search of my old songs, looking for one in specific. I opened a folder labeled past memories to find the old made up song from my middle school years entitled Determined and began reading. After some adjustments, I whipped up a Microsoft Office document and began typing the new chorus to the song. However, it was no longer a song chorus, it was a beautiful poem that I would submit and be published.
I will soon be a senior in high school, for I am finishing up the end of my junior year strongly. I have applied for a position on the school newspaper next year so I can gain more experience in the field of professional writing and journalism. A piece of advice from my own personal experience to those out there who are still unsure of their calling: look at the talents and blessings God has provided you with, don’t overlook small things because they can lead to bigger things, and do what you love. I have learned these things early, before I even go to college, and I know I will use them the rest of my life in retrospect. My favorite childhood memory will always be vibrantly visible in the back of my mind because it has helped lead me to realize my passion for writing that I possess today.