Soundtrack of My Life By: AZ Nowell
Begin 2 Luv U - Doug Willis Lightning. A brief, but weighted pause, and then… BOOM. Thunder, rolling around loudly in the sky above our home. The sound shook me to my bones, feeling too loud to be harmless. Panic rose in my chest as I tried to make myself as small as possible on the couch in our living room. For a young girl terrified of loud, unexpected noises, a clap of thunder seemed like the worst thing in the world. Two strong hands picked me up from my curled ball of safety, carrying me out the front door and into the storm. My terrified arms wrapped tightly around my father’s neck as we stood in the middle of our front yard, cold rain falling on our skin, whispered assurances that “everything is okay” falling on my ears. After a while, my eyes slowly unscrewed themselves and I followed my father’s gaze up to the heavens. Another rolling boom echoed out, but for the first time, it didn’t seem so bad. And then, back into the warmth of the bright green house, the fireplace ablaze, and two mugs of hot chocolate waiting for us.
No One - Alicia Keys Change. So much change at once. An overwhelming jumble of sadness, anger, anxiety, and fear crackled on every nerve in my body as I stood in the driveway with clenched fists. The streetlight across the street cast a yellow pallor over the only home I had ever known, now teeming with movers pulling out everything inside and packing it into a truck waiting in the road. In the midst of it all I had been left to my own devices, my mother lost in the chaos. Across the street, a single light was on in my best friend’s bedroom. Taking advantage of the lack of eyes on me at the moment, I ran as fast as my 7 year old legs would take me until I stood right under it. A sense of familiarity in all the newness coming together against my will. After my calling, a face peeked out, haloed by the golden light, and a small hand waved. A simple goodbye, for an indeterminate amount of time. All too soon I was also packed away, whisked off to a life with two new houses in two new cities, each with one less parent than before.
