Every Song Tells A Story

The Dog's office doghouse is a reflecton of the Rod Stewart line, "Every Picture Tells A Story".  A long life history creates a lot of wall hangings, and more so many memories.   These artifacts serve to rekindle thoughts of people, places and things -- experiences. Each can give me one of those "poignant pauses" to reflect and connect again.  
Likewise, there's always music playing in the office doghouse.  The music serves several purposes.
One, it's just nice to have music (if you think music in your office seems unprofessional, you have issues beyond professionalism).  
Two, the music is a constant reminder that the effective performance depends on many things --- the environment -- the people playing in the band --the need for everyone to perform as individuals...and as a group -- and the absolute dependence of the leader on the members of the band, the need of the leader for the followers to play to play well.   What a better metaphor for leadership?  
Third, the music, like the wall hangings, has been selected by choice, not randomly.  Every song also tells a story, brings back a memory of an event or a person in my life. As Leonard Bernstein once said, "Music can name the un-nameable and communicate the unknowable."  In other words, it helps you think of what was, what is, and what may have been. Such things bring everything from smiles to melancholia, but rarely, if ever, regrets.  
So, it came to pass, on a quiet Sunday morning not too long ago, Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" fired up and the Dog was given cause to reflect on the message under the vulgarities of lyric:  "I wonder what ever happened to her?" 
It was 1965, and the Dog was fresh from his 8-year Catholic School indoctrination and entering the world of "public school" and worrying more about becoming the "high school loser" than getting any sort of good grades. 
And so it came to pass that one day, while wandering the halls of Stuart Junior High School on a perpetual search for coolness, a raven haired girl appeared on my right arm and began conversing in junior high school girl style that guaranteed a sweaty breakout on my forehead and total loss of control in the brain-mouth connection. 
The Dog knew this girl from home room and a couple of classes, but didn't pay much attention to things perceived to be beyond reach.  She was well beyond reach, in my mind until then.  Her name was Linda, and she was one of those school girls that fit in between the niches. Don't go down the trash chute with this thought.  I never went out with her..  But with that conversation and subsequent hall walks, she did give me the impetus to "walk this way, talk this way".  She wasn't a cheerleader, but she was cool, and a bit understated. She didn't run with the blond bombs or the cheerleaders, but more with the darker side. As with that fringe player status, she had a mystery about her. She didn't have to fake "cool". 


Linda never graduated with us.  During our junior year she found someone on the dark side, and that was it for Linda in the high school life. She disappeared. The Dog never asked nor thought about her much until Aerosmith re-lit the memory. When I hear the song, I think of Linda and hope she found some good music in her life; and made some good memories.  She's one of mine. 
I hope that everyone has such memories, and revisits them regularly.