Once, long ago, I had a Disagreement with my roommate. I wanted a cat. The roommate did not want a cat. Any cat. Any cats. Had cats with other roommates, didn’t want to do it again.
It drove me nuts. I’d spent every year I’d been alive living with cats, near cats, around cats. I’d watched them be born, I’d watched them die, I’d watched them survive what looked to be insurmountable injury. I’d taken them into the vet when it was time for them to die.
I wanted more cats. But roomie just didn’t get it. Until I equated cats to something just as ingrained in everyday life as cats were to me: music.
“Imagine,” I said, “a day without music. A week. A month. A life. No ringtones, no jingles, maybe a figurine of a musical instrument collecting dust somewhere on a shelf. No singing, no radio, no theme songs. If you wanted music, sometimes you’d steal half an hour away here or there, trawling through the music stores, looking for music to play with. Looking forward to visits with friends because they had music you could listen to for a few hours while you hung out and visited. To fill that little hole in your heart a while, to carry you through until more moments could be stolen away.”
It was a rather impassioned speech that came out that day. Not as eloquent as rephrased above, but that was the essence of it. No cats = big hole. And it worked. I convinced the roomie about cats, and we agreed that the next place we’d work on it. But then allergies became a factor, and well … sometimes I start trawling through pet stores to get a fix.
But I’m not the only one who imagined a day without music. I was listening to NPR on my ride home yesterday and found out that today is no music day. And the concept is fascinating – absence makes the heart grow fonder. I think I’m going to give it a whirl, but I’m not sure with what music I’ll break this fast.
And I wonder if it will sharpen my appreciation for the “noise” I have going all day, every day (my workspace is rather noisy, and a low radio keeps me focused). Or if it will just be an odd, quiet day without tunes.
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