The Power of Song

I was reminded of my deep love for music at the airport the other evening, and thought, “I’d really love to post about this revelation.”

This past weekend I traveled to the Concrete Jungle. Due the consistent and blistering heat that accompanies mid July in NYC, it really did feel like this infamous Concrete Jungle. What a special city. I’d divulge more detail on what struck me about it, but that’s for another blog or a different conversation. I’ll just say: go there.

To continue; I was on my journey home, back to Chicago. I have really bad luck with traveling. For the little amount I do and have done, stress, delays and close calls find me. I possess a calm demeanor, but I’ve met circumstances recently that are eager to diminish any sense of calm. 

Plane delays happen. However, being on a stuffy airplane on the runway for two hours, with a woman beside me who was sobbing and physically sick from stress… was another kind of delay. I wanted to be anywhere but on that plane. And as this delay continued on, I quickly realized I would likely miss my transfer in Cincinnati. And yep, I did. And the next outgoing flight? The following day. A night alone in Ohio was my end.

Walking off the plane in a huff, I was no doubt stressed. Really stressed. I was calculating all the things I had to get done that week and how this setback and inconvenience didn’t fit well into the picture. I was absolutely caught up in the disdain of travel.

But, then, this is how it went. And it really was this simple. 

There are few songs I really take to. They pull at heartstrings I didn’t even know I had. As I realized my fate of being stuck in Ohio —  the quiet, almost somber, Cincinnati airport was playing the song “The Stable Song” by Gregory Alan Isakov. 

Music has a wild, unspeakable power. Maybe more for some than others, but this song brought me an unruly sense of calm and solace in the midst of a really unfortunate day of travel. I didn’t have a logical reason to feel any sort of familiarity at the time, but I admit this song brought that to me. It felt like home, when I was anywhere but near it.

Music picks you up, sets you down, involves memories; it carries a message that’s only translated through song. The Stable Song now involves that small airport in Cincinnati and the stillness it offered me at such an illogical time.