Dave has recently been addicted to this song called The Cave by the band Mumford & Sons. His obsession extends so far that any time I happen to leave my computer turned on in his vicinity he quickly youtubes it. haha Needless to say I have heard a lot of this song. I have never been a particular fan of the song. Don't misunderstand, it's not that I dislike the song, I've just never found it to be the musical wonder that Dave has found it to be. But tonight, as I was driving home for my break from work this song came on the radio. And as I was listening to it I found myself to be happy and genuinely enjoying the song. As I was pondering this turn of events this evening I came to the conclusion that my shift in feelings about this song is because of Dave. For so long I have watched Dave listen to it over and over on my computer or his own, I've watched him crank it up when it comes on the radio and sing along, and I've finally reached the point where when I listen to this song I think of nothing but Dave. And every positive (which the majority consist of), negative, worrisome, etc. feeling I've ever had towards that boy is now evoked whenever I hear the first few strains of that song.
I've often thought about music's ability to do that to us, to get under our skin in such a way that the meanings or feelings associated with a song are forever changed. For example, We Didn't Start the Fire is the last song that I remember listening to before Cherstin and I got into that accident when I was 15 that totaled the car and left me with a concussion, every since then listening to that song has always been difficult for me. There are certain songs that I listened to with Matt such as Every Other Time by LFO that have a negative connotation because of how badly Matt hurt me and how little he seemed to care (again, don't misunderstand, I'm not saying he didn't, but he definitely didn't let me see it if he struggled at all). And even if things eventually come to an end for Dave and I, I know that this song The Cave by Mumford and Sons will always have a positive connotation for me because of how much happiness and love Dave has shown me. He has been my best friend for a long time and has stood by me through things when it would have been easier for him to walk away (ie my grad school application and my indifference at the beginning of our relationship), he has taught me patience and charity, but most importantly he has taught me the value of faith and how to strengthen it.
The Lord has given us so many things for so many reasons. We know that one of the reasons for music is because the Lord delights in it and in many instances it can act as a prayer unto him (D&C 25). But, maybe one of the reasons music has been given to us is to help us remember. The Greeks were able to memorize epochs like The Iliad simply by putting it to music, and my Junior and Senior Years of HS as much as I hate to admit it, those darn scripture mastery songs Mom played really did help. Remembering is such and important part of the gospel and of life in general. I mean how can you know where you're going if you can't remember where you've been? So maybe one of the purposes music serves is to help us remember things, not just stories and scriptures, but principles we've learned and people who have helped us along the way. That way if we're ever in a moment of doubt or uncertainty we can simply listen to a song and all at once feel every single emotion we've ever associated with that bit of music. Maybe these are just the rantings of tired little white girl at 6am but for some reason they really resonated with me tonight so I thought that I'd share.