Every once in a while, I am reminded of how different senses activate memory. I am always surprised by this. Seeing something obviously "takes you somewhere," but have you ever experienced a unique smell and you suddenly find yourself in the middle of a childhood experience?
And of course, there is sound. When I finally gave in and started being a little bit more active on Matt's Napster account, we had several evenings of searching out music from college, high school and earlier -- and what fun that was to go down memory lane. I loved remembering how I experienced various songs and music: jamming out in our living room with the gigantic headphones on (Michael Jackson's Thriller Album, start to finish); driving back and forth to school (a lot of Amy Grant); listening to music as we got ready to go out for the evening (Beatles' Love Me Do at Molly's house).
When Matt and I first met, we both loved the Indigo Girls. That was a key shared like for us since our music tastes tend to go in different directions from there. We also loved to listen to MPR, and really enjoyed Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion (PHC). PHC is home for us. It is the best of St. Paul, and it captures so perfectly why we love living here. Keillor's mix of love and mockery for our great state works for us and the subtlties and nuances within each show are not lost on us. When Alice was a baby, we would all do a family dance to the "Powder Milk" song. We still sing along to the Ketchup song, and I always clap when I hear the first lyrics of the show, "I hear that old piano/coming down the avenue..."
I found myself in silence this week when I heard that Garrison's sound effects man, Tom Keith, died suddenly. And last night, as I listened in to the show (I was a bit in and out), I was curious to see how different it would be without Tom's bits and adds. And it was different. It wasn't a loss, but it was different. Here it comes again: I think it's a "new normal." Man do I get tired of that phrase but it sure works and describes situations well. It was how I felt after I became a parent, and how I imagine it feels when a close friend or family member passes away. It's the same and life goes on, but it's never the same and life seems to stop.
Tom Keith's life was much bigger than being a sound effects guy -- that's for certain. But that was the special way in which I encountered him. He was such a staple in Garrison's show -- a staple in a show that is a staple in my life.
I felt a little punch when I heard the news. But what luck, what luck to have this guy and this show as part of the backdrop of the sounds of my life.
