The Simple Life

I've been listening to the same song on repeat for awhile now and it's by far my favorite rendition of this song. ever. My song of the moment? John Mayer's song "In Your Atmosphere" off the new album Where The Light Is. I'd heard the song YEARS ago, but I haven't heard a version as good as this one. See, I'm what you'd call a collector. I intentionallly collect music that I love, and basically that means that I own every John Mayer album I can possible. While I love all of his music, this song specifically has been speaking to me for years. I love it. It's one that I've fallen in love with over and over and over. Like your favorite book that you read again every year (or at least once a year, but only tell people you read it annually). This specific version has a lick at the end that I adore. It's simple and was probably composed in just a few short hours. It's just a beautiful piece of music that I can't seem to find words for. I'm transcended out of my body everytime I hear it and I'm obsessed with that feeling. There's a connection there that I can't have with my favorite novel, or at least not the SAME connection. I often feel like the words written in Mayer's songs were written about my life or that they were written specifically so that I would hear them. I just feel like while the imperfections in his voice are so real and so bare, but in the best way possible. The tone of the rest of the music is perfection. And while I've heard enough criticism about liking his vocals, it isn't about that for me all the time. Though, I consider myself a music snob. Sometimes that passion and that connection with the true essence of yourself cannot be tamed and you need to go with your heart. His heart is in the music and I'll keep mine there also. That's why the music note is on my body to remind me of where my heart is.

I once had song lyrics from a song painted on my bedroom wall that said "My love is music, and I will marry melody" and one of my friends at the time insisted that if my love was Music and I was going to marry Melody, that I was cheating on music with melody! How outlandish. I'll never forget how that seemed so off to me, but if you think of it, it sort of makes sense. The music is there, but it's the melody that's at the heart of it. The heart of the heart, if you will. The essence of the music of the melody. Stripped down, without anything to cover it at all. The soul.

This song, seems to speak to me differently now than it used to. "I don't think I'm gonna go to L.A. anymor"...I'm thoroughly enjoying my simple life down in Tennessee these days. It's an interesting dynamic and one that I'm not sure I entirely comprehend all the time, like I'm on an extra long vacation. Except all of my important things are here and I can't just leave whenever I want to so I can go back "home." Strange, but the longer I'm down here, the easier it is for me to appreciate the simplicity that my life now is. I miss the city, and I LOVE the city. I can't imagine being here forever because that just isn't my style, but my humbling experiences since I've first been here have progressed into something bigger now. Being anywhere different from home is bound to be a humbling experience if you accept it as a commodity. As something that you can merely observe and you don't have to experience yourself. But the longer I'm here, the less it's a humbling experience, and the more it turns out to be a growth of personality and a life altering experience. I'm going back to my roots a bit and questioning things that I used to question and had left with the cap closed on three sides, but not all four.

I'm re-thinking my religious beliefs and whether that means that I'm really "Christian" or whether my choice of remaining "Agnostic" for the last few years is really "Me." I'm re-thinking how I feel about having nice things and how I spend my extra money. I'm questioning having a family, and quite actually, questioning that more than I EVER thought possible. I'm thinking about different career paths and what that means for me in the long run. I'm questioning my taste in novels and branching out from what I would normally find fascinating. This is a great experience to have, truly.

While I don't think I'm ready to go back to the city just yet, I do miss it on a very regular basis. Being away from distraction, and corruption especially, is something I'm attempting to embrace. By corruption and distraction, I mean the commercial mecca. Being in a big city means extra coffee runs to the nearest Starbucks, a quick shopping trip for a new top at Gap, or a new pair of jeans because the ones I currently have are more worn than I'd like them to be. I need to get away from all of that and life the simple life. My simple life.