My Night had a Soundtrack

You know what the best part of my night was? Surprisingly it had nothing to do with getting to go home after a full day of classes, doctor's appointments, or work. It had nothing to do with soaking in a hot bubble bath and it definitely had nothing to do with getting to slip into my bed and lay my head against a goose feather pillow. It was actually the transitional moment, the moment in between when I literally stepped out of the building of my job into the intense winds of hurricane Irene. I should have been scared, I mean it was a mile long walk to my car, in the dark, and no one was walking with me. There I was pulling out my iPod prepared to look up a little Eminem for the trip, when it began to rain. No, it didn't begin to rain; it began to pour, like someone was dropping an ocean from the sky. For a split second I was frustrated with the situation, I had left my umbrella in my car. It was right at that moment I remembered a quote I had read somewhere,

"Sometimes God calms the storm; Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child."

I realized then, I wasn't really upset. I didn't feel as if I was in any danger. It was only wind and rain. I felt as calm as that storm felt out of control. I found a spot under some trees and dropped my purse. I knelt down and began to roll my khakis up to my knees, and then I unbuttoned my shirt, draped it over my head, and adjusted the tank top I was wearing underneath. I took my iPod out of my purse and set it to shuffle on my indie playlist but paused it before the music started. I situated my purse on my arm, pressed play on my iPod and slipped it in my pocket, and began to walk. The first song to come through my head phones was "Just Impolite" by Plushgun, a lighthearted upbeat tune with just a hint of romantic frustration. The kind of song that didn't drown out your own thoughts, just help set a mood for them. "Are you frightened, by perfection?/Is this who you are, not who you want to be/I walk the line like Johnny Cash/I made the bus in seconds flat/I called your line too many times/I'm not obsessed, just impolite."

I listened until it faded into silence; I was only a quarter of the way to my car and had just crossed a street to stand in front of a building. I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings until I noticed something strange. I looked around me and all I saw were trees around me blowing as if they were in the eye of a twister, that itself wasn't strange since this was supposed to be a hurricane. The strange part was that with all the wind blowing around me, I didn't feel a thing. I didn't feel a single gust of wind against my face. I was amazed at this, I personally thought it was an incredible movie-like phenomena that only happen in films, like the scene in Forces of Nature with Ben Affleck, when he's kissing his bride and all this stuff just starts swirling around them in the middle of this storm and nothing hits them because it's like they are in their own little force field. I suppose my moment would have been a little more incredible kissing someone, but it felt just as perfect with just me there. The rain began to lighten so I pressed pause and stopped on the sidewalk. I took the shirt off of my head, it had become pretty useless since it was now soaked with rain. I folded it over, wrung it out, and watched water pour from it. I held it in my hand as I started the next song and continued walking.

The next song that came on was "Bizness" by the tUnE-yArDs, a sort of African-techno fusion with just a touch of Bobby McFerrin. The atmosphere instantly became a little more humorous. Here I was in the middle of a hurricane, and when anyone else would have been dodging for shelter, I was walking like God was playing "Heart and Soul" on universal speakers just for me. I grinned to myself at my current situation and how OK I was with it. I was happy and I couldn't tell why. My step picked up a little as trumpets blared into my ears and I could feel the vibrations from it in my chest. "If you just press your fingers down under my skin/Lift up, dig up, lift up, dig up and bleed for me/I say, I'll bleed if you ask me/I'll bleed if you ask me/That's when, that's when, he said no/What's the business, yeah/Don't take my life away/Don't take my life away." Once again the music faded away.

I was more than halfway there and I was so ready for the next song, ready to see how perfectly my night would continue. As if it had read my mind my iPod sent me a song that sort of signified the end of my expedition, I listened as Bon Iver plucked her guitar strings and began to sing a much slower and calmer melody than the previous two tunes. "Travelling north, travelling north to find you/Train wheels beating, the wind in my eyes/Don't even know what I'll find when I get to you/Call out your name love, don't be surprised." I turned a corner into a lot and saw my car, I noticed a glow inside and realized I had left my overhead lights on. I stopped the song in the middle to set my stuff inside. I looked in the back and saw I had dry clothes in my car from when I had changed after class. There was no one else in the lot and it was pretty much dark except for the light of the streetlamps. I took my tank top off first and slipped on a long sleeve cotton shirt, next I unbuttoned my pants.

I looked up to make sure there was no one there. I was alone so I slipped off my khakis and tossed them in the back seat. I grabbed my dry sweats and slipped 'em on. Changed my soaked sneakers out for the flip flops beneath my seat and got in my car. First thing I did was grab my iPod and plugged it into my car, it picked up where the song left off. "It's so many miles and so long since I've met you/Don't even know what I'll find when I get to you/But suddenly now, I know where I belong/It's many hundred miles and it won't be long/It won't be long/It won't be long/It won't be long." The song faded into quiet as I blended into night traffic. The presence of others didn't quite disturb my happy little world, but sort of brought them into it. I drove home listening to more music that seemed to be DJ'd by fate. I had to laugh at the utter ridiculousness of my night, how ridiculously wonderful it had been to have my own night with a soundtrack that was just for me.