The Read Along Sound Effect
You mentioned your childhood memories of fairy tale c-cassettes and how the jazz music between the stories soothed you. It made me think of my read along storybooks; stories in c-cassettes (yes, I’m that old) combined with little booklets of drawings of the story. You could follow the story from the booklet while listening to it from the cassette. Every time you were supposed to turn the page, there was that magical sound effect.
When you hear this sound [[ ♫ ]], turn the page.
The sound of fairy tales. The brief glide of the harp indicating that you are moving from one page to another, from one scene to another, from one world to another.
When I was eight years old, I was reading the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis. For a long time, I opened the bedroom closet door with great excitement. The harp glide was playing in my head. But no; no otherworldly entrance, no lions, no fauns, no waterfalls.
Yet it didn’t discourage me. For every time, there was hope.
When you hear this sound [[ ♫ ]], turn the page.
I do think there is some of that childhood magic left in the world. After all, magic is a matter of faith. And as much I love logic, I think on a personal level we are entitled to have faith in something. In its perfect form, logic will never capture the essence of our limited and imperfect experience. And vice versa. It’s not what you believe in, it’s that you believe.
Anyway. Stay alert. Sometimes you have to keep listening carefully not to miss the sound effect that gently but firmly guides you to turn the page.
♫
Walking down the street in a crisp, bright fall weather that chills my face.
“This relationship is over. I love him but I can’t go back.”
And I walk down the street, confused, yet sure. It’s not even a decision. It is an awareness that peaks suddenly, yet not completely unexpectedly. And I never went back to him.
♫
“I want to change my job. I have a career, I have talent. But this is bullshit. I’m in the wrong place. I’m not angry if this chapter is not accepted in the philosophical encyclopedia edited by a distinguished professor. I simply don’t care anymore.”
And I changed my career.
♫
“I need to write, I need to create, I need to reach out to people and share.” So I’m writing this. Because if I don’t, tomorrow I will wish I would have started today.
What you said about writing as a way to create a connection between yourself and your own ideas and thoughts makes a lot of sense to me. And, ultimately, when I’m narrowing the distances between me and others, I’m also narrowing the distances within myself.
My advice, for what it’s worth, to whoever is reading this; don’t push yourself to play the sound in your head, don’t think you can anticipate the timing. Just listen.
And then one day:
♫
