The Cranberries and the Soundtrack of your Life…

My friend Emily Waldman once told me that when she listens to music as she goes about her day that she views it as if it is the sountrack to the movie that is her life.
I thought about the other day while having breakfast in Santiago.
The song “Dreams” by the Cranberries came on the radio in the restaurant.
I hadn’t heard it in a long time, but when I did, it transported me back to another time and place.
You know how there are certain songs that do that, right?
Well, for me, this song was one with which I became familiar during my time in Japan in 1997-98. I had a few CDs in my one room (as part of a shared house) in Tokyo and the Cranberries was one of them.
So, I listened to it A LOT.
It was the soundtrack for that time of my life…young, adventurous, on the other side of the world.
Then, here I was, in Santiago, Chile. Again, on the other side of the world (sort of). Maybe not as young and maybe not as adventurous, but still, I hope (or at least I tell myself), young at heart and with the spirit of an adventurer.
When I heard the song, I thought about the distance between Tokyo and Santiago, not physically, but meta-physically. Spiritually. How the time had passed. How I was, in some ways, very different, but in some ways, very similar.
I liked very much how the song, for that moment, played the role of “1/4 speed button” and life seemed to go in slow motion.