Music is my boyfriend.

I have a confession.

My name is Meredith and I am a mixed CD junkie.

I've got hundreds, probably, of mixed CDs.  Some are new, as recent as August, some are old, dating back to when I was in middle school.  Part of my love for mixed CDs are for the obvious reason: music.  I almost always have music playing in some form.  If I'm working at my computer, it's Pandora radio online.  When I drive, I alternate between the radio, my MP3 player and CDs.  I'm obsessed with music.

I also love mixed CDs for the time-keeping effect.

Huh?

I guess I see these CDs, mixed with a list of completely random songs, as a snapshot of history, perhaps even a journal entry.  I listen to the songs and remember how much I loved that song or that other one, when I made the CD.

Recently, I decided it was time to switch out some of the CDs in my car.  I pulled a few random CDs out of my book and headed out the door.  One of the ones I had pulled is labeled "TURKEY TIME" and is dated 11/22/06.  I remember making this mix CD when I was in college, headed home for Thanksgiving.

So, Meredith, why exactly are you blogging about a mixed CD from six years ago?

Because it showed me how much I've changed in the last six years.  I made this mixed CD to "get me through the drive home" from college.  I went to college an hour away from my family's home.  An hour.  One.  Hour.  And I needed a special mixed CD to get me through it?!  Hah!

I have literally flown across the world and back, several times, since that CD.  I've lived in four different states and two different countries.  An hour is a long drive?

But here's the thing: an hour was a long drive six years ago.  This CD was a tangible reminder of how much I've changed over the last six years and it makes me wonder how I'll change in the next six years.  Also, this CD was fun to listen to, because it included "I Need a Hero" from the Shrek soundtrack...which we sang in our seminary musical this spring.  Who would have thought that six years later I'd be learning a dance number to this song, using glowsticks and flashlights, to perform in a Katie Luther musical, all while being in seminary??!!