Soundtrack to My Life...

If Your Life Was Set to Film, What Would the Soundtrack Be Like?
Here's Mine...

Just so you all know, this was the hardest thing to do for me E.V.E.R., and I mean it. Music is my life, and to have to sit and pick out songs for certain parts of my life on a movie, well, that's just too insanely difficult. I'm pretty proud, however, of the outcome. Well-rounded in musical genres as well as artists, and pretty much just shows how stinking old I'm getting...

Opening Credits:
“Everyday is a Winding Road” – Sheryl Crow
Every road trip I've ever been on has started with this song or with Sheryl Crow... I love how it talks about how life changes and that each day we get closer to finding happiness.

Waking Up:
“Brave” – Nichole Nordeman
I remember hearing this song for the first time and thinking, "That's exactly what I want to be." The lyrics say, "You make me wanna be brave...," and she is talking about God and stepping out in faith. Everyday I try to remember that I'm living by that.

First Day at School/College:
“Wide Open Spaces” – Dixie Chicks
My dad "checked the oil" a million times that day I left for school although Western was 45 miles north of home, but the sincerity in this song was exactly how I felt when I stepped onto that campus for the first time.

Childhood:
“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” – Four Seasons
“Hard Candy Christmas” – Dolly Parton
My daddy used to sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to me every night. I had a dislocated hip when I was born, and for the first six months of my life, the doctors had me in this awful brace to get it back in place. Because of the uncomfortability of the brace, I didn't sleep well. My daddy would sing this song to get me to sleep, and it always did the trick.

"Hard Candy Christmas" was my FAVORITE song as a child. I remember playing that Christmas tape out in our Maxima and singing that song at the top of my lungs. To this day, it holds a very special place in my heart.

Falling In Love:
“I’ll Be” – Edwin McCain
“Angel” – Shaggy
"I'll Be" was a huge part of my BEING in love for the very first time. I can't hear this song without thinking back to that first relationship and that emerald ring ("Emeralds from mountains thrust toward the sky...").

"Angel" is more of a song that started my liking someone. This song always seemed to come on when we were together, and he always sang the words to me. I hated it, but the more we were together, I grew to like the song...

Fight Song:
“Bad Company” – Bad Company
What can I say! This song has always gotten me pumped up, back on Friday nights and then at parties afterward in high school, this song brought out the rebel in everyone I knew.

Breaking Up:
“Cryin” – Aerosmith
“Halo” – Bethany Joy Lenz
"Cryin" is my ultimate break-up song simply because it always expresses what I need to say. I'm angry but I'm sad; I'm hurt but I'm over it. It's just perfect.

"Halo" is a different kind of song; it's the kind that says, "You're making me into something I'm not..." I've had that happen, and I've also let myself become someone I'm not as well, so I REALLY relate to it.

Prom:
“I Could Not Ask For More” – Edwin McCain
I nominated this as our theme and it ended up being it. It also represented my relationship with a good friend at the time; we had dated for years but ended it right before prom and previously promised each other we'd go together. We did, and this song just said everything better than I could that night...

Life:
“Holy” – Nichole Nordeman
“Leaving Town Alive” – Bethany Joy Lenz
Listen to "Holy" and you'll understand. As for "Leaving Town Alive," my life has been a mixture of regrets and reoccurrences. I have made a lot of mistakes and though I've changed them, I've never been forgiven by some nor have they been forgotten. I feel as if this song explains how I sometimes think I have to live life...

College:
“I’m Moving On” – Rascal Flatts
Wow, driving in to Western for the first time with my Honda loaded down, I played this song and nearly died. I was so excited to be going to college, but I felt so torn to be leaving home.

High School:
“What I Got” – Sublime
HA HA. I love it. I just love it. It reminds me flirting with boys and screaming the lyrics at the tops of our lungs just to impress them...

Mental Breakdown:
“Angel” – Sarah McLachlan
When I ever felt down, Sarah McLachlan could always find a way to make things comfortable again.

Driving:
“Hold On” – Wilson Phillips
“Days of Thunder Theme” – Hans Zimmer
Yeah, I like 80s music when I'm driving. "Hold On" is a classic; if you don't know it, you should. And well, "Days of Thunder," that goes back to high school and then to college driving a stick shift with Brent and imitating the movie...

Flashback:
“Wonderwall” -- Oasis
8th grade. That's all I'm saying.

Getting Back Together:
“Home” -- Chantal Krevaziuk
“Crash Into Me” -- Dave Matthews Band
This song, "Home," breaks me down every time I hear it. It's beautiful because he used it every time we were getting back together... EVERY TIME. And it worked EVERY TIME.

"Crash Into Me" takes me back to a time when I was incapable of making good decisions when it came to relationships, but if I would have truly listened to that boy sing this song to me, it should have been all that mattered at the time... HA HA.

Wedding:
“Time After Time” – Cyndi Lauper
The lyrics are amazing. Period.

Birth of Child:
“Sweet Child Of Mine” – Sheryl Crow
I know this song is ROCKING, but the lyrics are precious. And I'll cry enough as it is, so I'll need a cool song when I have kids.

Final Battle:
“Faint” (instrumental) – Linkin Park
I've started playing Linkin Park instrumentals in the classroom with my Kindergarteners... When I heard this song on piano with NO lyrics, it was amazing. Chills. That's what I imagine a "Final Battle" being like, although I don't imagine myself having one.

Death Scene:
“Love Song” – Third Day
"Just to Be With You, I'd Give Anything; I Would Give My Life Away..." That's what I want to be willing to say when it's my time. When the Lord calls me home, I want to be ready to meet Him.

Funeral Song:
“Ten Thousand Years” – Hymn
I can't talk about this song much because even as a child I knew I wanted this song to be played at my funeral.

End Credits:
“Legacy” – Nichole Nordeman
"I want to leave a legacy;
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love
or did I point to You enough to make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering,
a child of mercy and grace
who blessed Your name unapologetically,
And leave that kind of legacy."