This part covers my last year of college and the two years afterward leading up to my marriage.
49. "American Soldier" by Toby Keith - Let me say right off the bat that I'm not a Toby Keith fan. But this song was my anchor when first, in 2002, my best friend Ruth joined the Army ROTC and transferred to a different college, and then that same year my friend Ethan joined the Army Reserves and was shipped off to Iraq in early 2003. My roommate went off to war protests in downtown Chicago, and I listened to this song and thought of my friends in uniform and cried.
50. "My Immortal" by Evanescence - While I can't say I identify directly with the lyrics to the song, the anguish spoke to me at a time when I was already going through a lot. That is all.
51. "Babylon 5" by Christopher Franke - Sometime in 2003, I met a Wheaton alumnus who lived in the neighborhood, as we had mutual friends, and he invited us all over to his house every week for a meal and Babylon 5. I'd never heard of the show - or maybe I had, in Galaxy Quest? - and I have to admit it took a couple seasons to grow on me. But grow on me it did. During Lent of my senior year, I gave up sweets, so we moved to watching B5 only on Sundays because the tension and stress of the episodes led to my requiring chocolate, and I could only eat chocolate on Sundays. Yes, we were crazy and silly, but gosh darn it, I love the show. Especially Ivanova.
52. "He's a Pirate" by Klaus Badelt - My roommate really liked Pirates of the Caribbean and had the soundtrack, so we listened to this song quite a lot my senior year. I'm not complaining. It was awesome.
53. "Into the West" by Annie Lennox - All three Lord of the Rings films came out while I was in college, and this song, like U2's "Grace" the year before, often took me off to dreamland in tears. I think of Frodo and his pain and his release. I think of the kindred spirits he left behind. I think of Elrond sailing away without his daughter. So. Many. Tears. The only time I've watched the Oscars is in 2004 when Return of the King made a clean sweep. This link is from that night's show.
54. "He Goes to Church" by The Cherryholmes - A year after I graduated, in 2005, I moved to California. I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle. One weekend, my aunt and uncle took me to a concert for a band I'd never heard of, a family called The Cherryholmes. I had never heard bluegrass before and fell in love with it - well, with this group in particular. And the frosting on the proverbial cake was that Christopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis were also in the audience that night! Fangirl squee! (I didn't see them, but just knowing they were there in the same room, breathing the same air, was exhilarating.) For the record, I'm not advocating this song as a true understanding of heaven, but it's sad and sweet, and I like it.
55. "Because of You" by Kelly Clarkson - Like "My Immortal," this song may not have spoken to my own life in its lyrics, but I identified with the raw pain and anger. (It's complicated.) And I have since learned that Kelly Clarkson is my birthday twin, so I love this song all the more. (Of course, it means something completely different to me now.)
This brings me up to 2006, when I returned to Nigeria as a bride.
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