Mix Tape

 The world would be a little more beautiful if we still shared mix tapes. If you don't know what a mix tape is, then you weren't paying attention in the 80s and 90s (or you weren't alive yet). 

A mix tape was a recording of songs for someone you cared about.

The mix tape filled many roles:

1. A vulnerable offering of what you love for someone you adored

2. An indication to the other that you thought about them when you heard these songs

3. A reflection of who you thought this person was and what they would enjoy

I knew George wasn't the one for me when he offered a mix tape filled with Rush songs. I hate Rush with a burning hate. If their songs were half as long and not as annoying, then I would merely despise them. That mix tape was never played all the way through.

Kirt gave me a mix tape of Christian music, which isn't normally my cup of tea, but I was living alone in a trailer in the wilderness in Haines so comforting praise music was calming in the cacophony of mice inside and bears outside. It also made me realize what a sweet heart he has.

I fell in love with our nation on Tuesday. The church is a polling place so I watched people come and go all day to vote. And it was beautiful. There was a wonderful mix of people, they seemed happy to see each other, polite to the poll workers, and carrying lots of different opinions about how the nation should function. It stirred in my heart the same flutter I get when I watch the jury selection video. Seriously, I am close to tears when I watch how our nation models seeking justice. 

I know our institutions have serious flaws, but she's still beautiful to me and I thought about what songs I would include in her mix tape.

American Pie, Country Roads and The Gambler seem like givens. I know all the words and they bring a mix of nostalgia, love for land, and warning against over confidence that I think runs deep in our nation. 

I'd probably also include Man in Black by Johny Cash, and On the Road Again by Willie. I would want to surprise her with Lyle Lovett's rendition of Guy Clark's Step Inside this House and Nanci Griffith's Spin on a Red Brick Floor. They are good songs to introduce her to some of my favorite singers. I'd make her giggle with Robert Earl Keen's Merry Christmas from the Family. 

I'd love to hear some of your songs for the mix tape. No meanness please. It's my day off and I don't do mean on Mondays.