Intro and Prologue

(This project was originally posted on Facebook from October 1st, 2014 to October 1st, 2015)

09/30/2014

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. Today, I turn 39.  That is a big number. But next year, that first digit gets a little bit bigger. As I have been thinking about the concept of growing older, it has made me a bit retrospective about my life and it has inspired me to try a new little project that I would like to share with each of you over the next 365 days or so.  Today, in preparation for the big 4-0, I am announcing my Facebook Song of the Day Project.  Music has always been an important part of my life. I truly feel like my life has a soundtrack, and so I would like to embark on a journey of sorts through my life with this soundtrack. It is the story of Paul.  But, I think that many of you might come to realize that it is also the story of us, as many of my memories of y'all are also associated with a specific song.  It is a story of 32 chapters and it begins tomorrow.  I must admit, that I did not expect to be in Japan right now, so the first chapter is a bit out of order.  But that's OK. In any event, we will start tomorrow with a Prologue.  We will start tomorrow at the beginning, in 1986.

10/1/2014

Day 1: (Prologue) There is really only one right answer to the question of "where to begin?" I will being, naturally, at the beginning. My love of music really begins with my big sister, Dawn. Dawn was in college when I was just becoming interested in things that were being played on the radio, and I remember being very excited when she would be home for the summer.  She would play board games with me and Jenni, and often times we would listen to one of Dawn's favorite albums that she brought home with her from MSU.  One of Dawn's favorite bands, R.E.M., in a pattern that is often repeated between older and younger siblings,  quickly became my favorite band. 1986's Life's Rich Pageant, quickly became one of my favorite albums.  It still is today. So, I offer up for today the opening track on that very album: "Begin the Begin". Next Up, we begin with Chapter 1: Big in Japan.