My Favorite Album

I was all set to blog about farming, but then we got home from a movie, and I sat my ass in this chair to surf the web (do people still say that?) and I wanted to listen to some music. That's when I came across Sean McConnell's "200 Orange St." album. I stopped. I clicked play. And I've been taken back about 3 years.

I'm sitting here thinking "has it really been three years since I discovered this album?" The answer is yes. A lot of different thoughts and memories are coming back. I cried through this entire album once - true story. One of my best friends had just died, the girl I thought I wanted to love forever didn't want anything to do with me, and I was on the way to a guitar shop to play guitars I couldn't afford. I used to listen to this album and smoke compulsively. It was 40 pounds and two pickups ago. I didn't even know who Shay was. I thought I was going to be a pastor. I was never going to own a dog that wasn't a red Doberman. I was an English major that hated grammar and wasn't that fond of Greek literature. When I couldn't sleep at night, I'd listen to this album while lying in bed and think that it was written just for me.

Isn't that the point of a great album? To listen to every song and think: "This guy was in my head. This guy was me in a past life." A great album is the friend that knows everything about you without having to ask. I didn't take much solace in anything at that time, but I could listen to this album and have a reprieve for 45 minutes or so.

Now, it's a different kind of listen. It's one of those friends that I don't hear from often, but when I do, it's like we were never apart. Instead of the bad, I remember the good. I smile a lot. I hurt a little. Mostly, I'm thankful that I found this album.