The Sound of My Childhood

The hills are alive with the sound of music

With songs they have sung for a thousand years

The hills fill my heart with the sound of music

My heart wants to sing every song it hears

I was supposed to be studying yesterday but then, for some reason, I ended up watching The Sound of Music. I've seen the movie a thousand times since I was four but for some reason (most likely PMS), it felt like I was watching it for the first time. I felt the anticipation during the prelude, and I sang along when Julie Andrews was twirling on the mountain singing "The hills are alive with the sound of music..." I wanted to twirl along but then again, to see a 25-year-old twirling around her room singing "The Sound of Music" at the top of her lungs... something's not quite right. If I murdered someone, I'd probably be exempt due to insanity.

When I was four or five, I loved The Sound of Music. Every morning, I would put on the vinyl on the record player and prance around our living room, singing along to "I Am Sixteen," jumping across chairs, mimicking the scene with Liesl and Rolfe .

My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds

that rise from the lake to the trees

My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies

from a church on a breeze

To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls overstones on its way

To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray

When I turned eight, it was Annie. I sang "Tomorrow" with a vengeance (I still do). I cleared out my toys singing "It's a Hard Knock Life" and when I was alone, I would hum "Maybe" to myself. As I grew up, I turned to the musicals with more mature themes... Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. I remember being twelve and singing "I Dreamed a Dream" and "I'd Give My Life for You" with my cousin, trying so hard to reach the high notes.

I guess I lost touch with my "Broadway" persona as I grew up. I was introduced to pop, rock and everything in between so I stashed away all the records, tapes and cds of the musicals but yesterday, you could say I listened to the child within. I actually cried when the children were singing for the Baroness and the Captain joined in.

Now I know what will calm me down after a storm... literally and figuratively. Some people go to a bar to wash out their weariness with a couple of drinks. Some go home, sit on a comfortable chair and listen to Puccini. Some play sports. I have an easier solution (for me at least). All I have to do is put on "The Sound of Music" and twirl around the house, jump from chair to chair, singing along with Maria and the rest of the Von Trapp family. And when I get tired of all the dancing, I just have to sit down and sing along to "Maybe" from Annie.

I go to the hills when my heart is lonely

I know I will hear what I've heard before

My heart will be blessed with the sound of music

And I'll sing once more