By Maile Sundquist
While taking my monthly shower today…I kid…kind of. I’m a parent of a young child whose horrible at time management and prioritizing. Wait, that sounded wrong. I’m the one who sucks at time management and prioritizing. Well, I guess the statement could hold true for both my son, and me, but I’ve had time to grow out of it…only that I didn’t. Buuuut before I digress further, I was taking a shower while playing a music playlist, when the song Just My Imagination by The Cranberries began playing.
There was a game we used to play
We would hit the town on Friday night
Stay in bed until Sunday
We used to be so free
We were living for the love we had
Living not for reality
Just my imagination
Just my imagination
Just my imagination
It was
Just my imagination
Just my imagination
Just my imagination
It was
There was a time I used to pray
I have always kept my faith in love
It’s the greatest thing from the man above
The game I used to play
I’ve always put my cards upon the table
Never be said that I’d be unstable
Just my imagination
Just my imagination
Just my imagination
It was
Just my imagination
Just my imagination
Just my imagination
It was
There is a game I like to play
I like to hit the town on Friday night
And stay in bed until Sunday
We’ll always be this free
We will be living for the love we have
Living not for reality
It’s not my imagination
Not my imagination
Not my imagination
It was
Not my imagination
Not my imagination
Not my imagination
The Cranberries were a pivotal band for me in my youth. Their No Need To argue album was the first CD I ever owned. My music and singing style was greatly influenced by Deloris and I have MANY fond memories of singing to her music at the top of my lungs with my close friends, windows rolled down, wind in our hair, through the streets of our city as dogs would cry and babies would howl, or is it the other way around? But no, we could all sing pretty solid. Looking back, I would say I had one of the most idealic childhoods I could imagine, outside of my tumultuous home life due to my alcoholic father. But despite his struggles, he was a visionary and song writer, and he, along with my mother, wrote music and kids books with original songs, stories and art amongst other things. They were creation junkies and passed that down to me. The constant music I heard growing up made me who I am today and it set the spark of creation into my soul. I sang in choir starting in the 4th grade and remained in one until twelfth. When I came into the Christian faith I sang in worship teams, and when I met my core circle of friends, if there was not an impromptu jam session that broke out several times a day when we were together, something was wrong. Music was our language and we spoke it often. Songs of praise to God, popular music or our own creations. There were even times of wordless songs, brought to life with free flowing enthusiasm, with drums, shakers, tambourines, flutes or anything else we could get our hands on, calling forth the primal need to move our bodies to the sound. That sounds super pretentious, but it was awesome!
Funny how the lyrics of a song can hit you in a different way at different points in your life. Now that I am an “adult” with “normal” grown up responsibilities, like having to shower regularly, or ya know, do adult things, like enjoy naps, I have mourned the loss of many aspects of my past self and my past life. Not like, a warrior princess that rode a dragon past life, or a velociraptor past life. I’ve mourned things like innocence, my care-free spirit, my friends of old, my health, my potential, my dreams that still have not come true. I began to cry as a whirl wind of memories flooded my mind as I listened to the song. Music has a way of transcending all barriers self made, society made, and permeates your being. A song can bring you right back into a specific moment and place in time, and you can feel exactly what you felt no matter how long ago. It is the most powerful of all artistic mediums in my opinion.
I guess I got a little misty because this song’s lyrics reminded me that my best days are not behind me, and although hope at time seems lost, that as long as I am breathing and praying, I am truly free and have the power to change any negative trajectory into a positive one. Although my friends are dispersed, we find ways of sending love, and to those who have left this mortal coil, well, I know they are saving me a spot in the drum circle up in the sky. I’m sure I’ll be able to execute some kick-ass dance moves with a set of angel wings! I’m totally gonna start a dance craze in heaven! Again with the digression! Okay, where was I? Ah, yes. So although I have suffered injury and heartache, I am still the free-spirited, fun-loving girl I was 20 years ago. Ooh, or a cowbell that can be played in multiple dimensions at once! Sorry. Focus! I will, and have kept my faith in love, and the creator of it, and creating. Life is far from over, and now that I am married and have a son, this next chapter can be as inspiring and joyful as the ones that came before the struggles. Each day is a new chance to live out our dreams and let our best selves resurface and redefine reality!
I have sung my whole life, and have been a song writer since I picked up the guitar when I was 16, so mid ice age. No doubt inspired by my mother and father. My husband (also a song writer and musician) and I have had a few bands and are now a duo, Ursi, with a New Wave alternative pop sound. Music, writing and creating is in our blood! Whether we go anywhere with our creations or not, I will be content, because what I am realizing, is that it’s about the journey, and the memories, not just recognition. Every one of the people who I have played or sung with, even in the smallest of ways have left their mark on my music and my life forever, and I am forever grateful for the music we created and have performed and shared. I will never forget and always be grateful for every talented beautiful soul that I had the great privilege of playing music with in my life.
Recently I have had the honor of running an open mic and widening the music circle of my life. It has been a place to share my music, but to also meet and play with musicians from all walks of life and from all ability levels. To encourage them and help promote them, and enjoy the wide range of talent and style. Not a day goes by when I don’t thank God for the gift of music in my life. My biggest prayer is that my words and creations will touch at least one person’s life in a positive and lasting way, and that they might be inspired to create, and keep the message of love, light, and laughter spreading like wildfire in our world.
Outside of God, my husband and son, music is my truest companion. Whether we realize it or acknowledge it, music has touched every human being, all of man kind! It is part of our history, in our make-up. Sure we were driven to create fire and the wheel, and Tele-tubies, and those plastic containers that hold slime that make farting sounds when you poke your finger into them. I actually really love those things! The digress train is back! Okay, hoping off. Fire, wheel? Ah! But early man also created paint and drums! The need to express ourselves and unite under the umbrella of sound and art in times of sorrow and, in turn joy, is part of who we are.
I encourage each of you to take the time to recognize the role music has played in your life. Whether it was choir, piano lessons, church music, or just singing and dancing to your favorite songs on the radio. I pray you embrace music in some form. If you have always wanted to play the drums, the violin, nose harp, or daxophone don’t let anything hold you back! Life is short and making music is one of the most healing, fulfilling, and inspiring things one could do on this earth. Find a drum circle! Find a music teacher or app. Stop by an open mic! Karaoke with friends. Listen to the song in your heart, and let it ring out for all the world to hear! Dance, sing, and play like no one is watching!
Live BRIGHT friends!
