Smithereens

The bright lights
And the long nights
Driving around with your friends in your parents car.

Looking back on what we’ve done this year, it was the best times (it was the worst times)

But we built something here.

today I crawled down three (3) submarine hatches. I went in a submarine. I am Jess, hear me roar. 

It is a little known fact that as a child I abhored Coldplay’s music. I was a young girl with a ridiculously active brain; I over-thought everything to the point of exhaustion (and beyond), and their music left me confounded. Was it meant to be happy or sad? It sounded so drab, so grey. It sometimes made me feel like dying inside. It reminded me of rainy days.

The summer between grade nine and grade ten was difficult for me. In the midst of growing up, I was tormented continuously by questions that I couldn’t answer and thoughts that didn’t seem mine at all. I was earnestly searching for God, searching for myself and searching for a place that was my own. It was that summer that Coldplay released Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. I remember hearing of its rave reviews and feeling oddly curious, so I bought it, and I listened to it, and I fell in love. 

Never in my life had melodies felt so sweeping, so uplifting, so joyous. While I can’t say the music saved me that summer, I can certainly say that it provided a beautiful soundtrack.

The year that followed just happened to be the year I found everything I had been searching for; God, my niche, myself. During the highs and lows Coldplay was the perfect accompaniment. I danced to them, I saw them live, I cried to them. They meant so much to me.

Now, in a new season of searching for a new niche and to find myself in amidst these mountains and new places, I can’t help but notice that Coldplay’s new CD is in lovely timing. I am more than excited to see what adventures I’ll have this year to this new music, the people I’ll meet, the places I’ll go. 

I’ll just have to wait and see.