When starting to write this paper, I wasn’t sure what to write. But after I thought about it for a while, I realized that I was listening to music and thinking about my feelings. I tend to do these things a lot because I usually have some kind of emotional tie to something. By listening to music, it gives me something to relate to when I don’t understand something or I feel alone. For most people, music is just something they use to pass the time or relax or forget. For me, it’s an essential to get through the day. I can pretty much relate anything that’s ever happened in my life to a song.

Before I was born, my father abandoned my mother. Being a planned child, to this day, I still don’t understand how he could be so heartless, so selfish, so careless, so demeaning. How could any human being with any kind of feelings do such a thing? He just up and left my mother and their unborn child for another woman, for something that appeared to be better than what he could have had. Not only did he leave, he also never came back. He didn’t hold me when I was born, didn’t send me toys as a child, didn’t help pay for school, didn’t do anything. In the end, his harsh, bitter actions helped make me who I am today. For these feelings and memory I have, I fit the song “A Trophy’s A Fathers Son” by Sleeping With Sirens.

When I was a young child, my mother tried many times to get me into the things she was into when she was young. She tried to get me into dancing, gymnastics, violin, everything. Not once did she force me to stay and do something I didn’t want to do. Finally, she introduced me to the sport, the life, of softball, and I fell in love with it. My cousin Penny has a daughter, Abby, that was also interested in softball. Being the supportive and enthusiastic person she was, she decided to coach a team called the Ladybugs. This was my first team. Softball became my passion and I owe it to Penny for giving me such a great first team that made me want to continue. She never said anything bad about anybody, nor did she ever frown. She was always so happy and optimistic. Several years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Penny was quite the fighter and never gave up. December 14th, 2011, she just couldn’t fight anymore. Her body was finally given the break it needed. For these feelings and memory I have, I fit the song “Slipped Away” by Avril Lavigne.

I remember pretty much everything; when I first met you, the first time we kissed, meeting your mother and father, when you told me you loved me, falling asleep in your arms, playing Xbox with you, listening to you play guitar, your smile, your eyes, everything. It’s hard to think that what once was, is no longer. You’re the most selfish and stubborn person I know and I know what you do, yet I still feel attracted to you, pulled towards you like a magnet. I believed everything you said; the truth, the lies, the stories, all of it. You made me the happiest person alive, yet at the same time, made me abandon all hope for sanity. Some would call it love, others would call it just another high school crush. I, personally, call it stupidity. For these feelings and memory I have, I fit the song “With Me” by Sum 41.

It all started in grade school. What is “all” you might ask? It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Her name’s Nina, my best friend. When I first met her, we both went to the same school yet never really clicked as friends because she was a grade under me and I wasn’t really the type to be friends with lower class men. In my 7th grade year, O.L.P. closed down, merging with Holy Trinity. She just so happened to go there as well. During the change of schools, my old best friend went to a different school and made a new best friend. I don’t remember exactly how Nina and I started talking and became close friends, but it happened. We started spending every day together, stayed the night at each others houses when ever we had the chance, did everything together and told each other about everything we didn’t do together. Neither of us realized what was happening, but we were on a long road of being best friends. You could just look at us and tell we’re almost two completely different people, yet if you really knew us, we’re so alike it’s scary. While she’s terrified of heights and anything that could potentially kill her, I’m always on the look out for the next thing for me to do that screams danger. She’s one of the most nonathletic people ever while softball is my life and I workout all the time. Half of the time she doesn’t want to do anything but sit at home and read a book while I’m always wanting to go somewhere and do something. Besides the obvious differences between us that make her the awkward, shy, nerdy, book-worm one and me the outgoing, jock, social butterfly, we do have many things in common. We both love to play video games, we make each other laugh until we cry, we can be equally weird in public and not care, we both have an older brother and a younger brother, and we both love food. She understand me better than anyone else and I unconditionally love her for that. For these feelings and memory I have, I fit the song “Perfect Two” by Auburn.

In the end, I always remember that life has a balance. When something bad happens, something good is waiting to happen right around the corner, and music helps me remember and get through each side of the balance. For most people, music is simply just music, but for me and a few others, it’s an essential to each day to keep moving forward. Some people might say, “Oh, music isn’t that important,” or, “You don’t really NEED music to get through each day of your life,” but the truth is, I really do. Without it, I would feel alone and empty. For that, I thank the lord I’m not deaf.