Siblings Soundtracked
Today is my Graduation Day … for the PhD I completed in memory of my brother, Martin … whose birthday will fall exactly one month hence … he would’ve been 40 years old this year. I am somewhat without words to explain the messy mixture of emotions that such details cumulatively provoke - I think I still fail to fully comprehend the totality of what has happened since 15 th December 2011. I am not able to see my brother’s face in mind without photographic aids, and many memories I reach for I cannot grasp as I’d like - they are stuck or lost or both. Yet, with certain songs and sounds, I am permitted moments of reconnection, permission to linger in a good memory. So, I’ve made a playlist. I used to make playlists all the time. It is not over-egging things to say that across my 20s, I couldn’t/wouldn’t leave the house without my music catalogue. The arrival of the iPod Classic provided a life-altering and indispensable treasure - my entire musical life in my pocket, a playlist