Growing up, I never liked one style of music. I have memories in the car with my mom, singing to christian and country. As I got older, things got pretty random for a little girl raised in a small, Tennessee town. Hip hop, rap, then Latino, 50s music (not sure what sparked this), Afro beats- even Arabic classics and French modern ballads -you name it. There wasn't a genre that couldn't sweet talk at least a little appreciation out of me. The sound of a Spanish guitar made me feel just as comforted as a Tennessee fiddle should make me feel. All this music spoke to me and meant something to me at certain time in my life. I identified with it, not necessarily the lyrics either, but what the actual instruments were saying. Of all the things in the world I didn’t understand, I understood why someone would make a song. I’ve heard songs that make me want to cry, smile, laugh, yell, love, dance- all at the same time. No one, no thing, no accomplishment, no night out nor night in, has ever made me feel what a song has made me feel. Music is a rhythm that can distract me in the best way possible, something I don’t want to imagine my life without. It can take me back to the best times in my life and show me favorite memories that I’ve never actually experienced. I can hear the aching of each instrument in a song and each time, my heart breaks for something I can’t explain and someone I've never met.
This past year, I’ve been two separate people. A woman who entertains audiences and curates musical experiences at clubs, private events, and any venue I could get in. A woman playing the perfect song for the young couple on their first date, the woman meeting other amazing young artists in Nashville and hearing their plans to make it, and the woman driving and driving between cities hours apart chasing a dream so big it caused her to turn her head in response every time she heard the word "crazy". I was also another young woman. A woman dressed in blue scrubs walking through an ICU, learning how to care for the most lovely people on their deathbeds and wondering why life was so unfair. A woman dissecting cadaver donors to gain understanding of the physical body that we are bestowed on this earth and will one day wither away. And a woman running between classes, learning CPR, and how to crack a spine. My life has been two songs on the decks of a DJ board- completely different genres but seamlessly, and somehow, being blended together. My life is two blended songs that make you raise your head, confused as to what you are hearing but shocked that it makes sense. A paradox that keeps my heart beating and my brain busy. Maybe I just can’t make up my mind, or maybe I like creating my own genre.
Whatever it is you create, create it well. “Create” is the first thing God did in the world, if that tells you how important it is. Create your creation with as much creativity as you can create. Whether you are a social worker creating a better home, a makeup artist beautifully creating a masterpiece, a dad creating a smile on your child's face, or a DJ in a physical therapy program who has a dream in her heart: create and create it well.
Love always,
Jessie D
