Music, for many of us, is more than a catchy beat, more than a song to fill the silence. Music can be solace and armor on life’s journey because the experience is so unlike a choreographed gymnastics performance that’s been perfectly timed to a marketable song.

Rarely in life do we execute a flawless performance, one so beautiful and mesmerizing that each movement is done to scorable perfection. With every challenge- we jump, we move, we fall, we stand up, we resist, we fall, we rise, we refuse, we bend, we choke, we break, and we jump again- into a rhythmless dance with no soundtrack following us except the ones we create in our minds.

With the unrevealed company of our favorite drumbeats- we bruise, we bleed, we lose, we gain, we steal, and we learn. Makeup and gel wash away. Ugly cries don’t get an audience moved to tears on our behalf. And grief has hands made of saw blades that tear and cut until we are bound in stillness and fear.

Music moves us on. The twists and turns on the path to escape leave us shaken. Our hair and clothes and smiles come out of the darkness different, changed, but the slow steady beat of our soundtrack of faith or courage or hope carried us through.

Just around the corner, a new rhythm takes us by surprise. Our path never follows the beat to perfection and so we learn again. And we dance because we turned the music on loud, to cover our crying or to celebrate our joys when words fail us. And again, somewhere along the line- we fall, we rise, we resist, and we survive.

by Christina Lynn Lambert

Below are some of my most recent favorite songs. I’ve been listening as I write, wash dishes, ride my exercise bike (because it’s too cold to go outside except to walk the dog), and cook, and procrastinate by watching an episode of Murder She Wrote when I’m supposed to be knee deep in figuring out what my characters will do in their next scene.

Fool For Love by Lord Huron. The song tells a story and the music reminds me of Jimmy Buffett but with a haunting walk through the woods kind of twisted sound.

Sailing by The Strumbellas.

and from the Your Name anime soundtrack: Nandemonaiya and also Sparkle by RADWIMPS

Ball and Chain by Social Distortion. This song actually reminds me so much of the hero  I’m writing for Stranger Creatures book 3 and some of the struggles he’s fighting to overcome, I decided to reference the song in my story.

Sometimes music speaks to me and inspires me, sometimes I just like the sound of something on in the background. Either way, it keeps me company on my journey. Sometimes that journey is just to the grocery store and the music is turned up ridiculously loud and the songs are completely uncool by modern standards. That’s alright though, because nobody can hear me sing with my car windows up.