Reign Over Me

What do you do when you lose everything that’s ever meant anything to you?
Your wife and three daughters die in a plane crash,
They loved and adored you.

They woke you up every morning singing your favourite Beatles song.
You were the Dad, you were the husband.

Now?

Now you’re the strange fellow who hangs around music stores all day long with your head phones on. They block out the noise. The noise your thoughts create. The memories. Too painful to remember.

You can’t be friends with your friends anymore. They know too much.
You can’t live in your house anymore, the stains of colouring pens are on the walls. You can paint over them. But you know what you’ve covered. You know they’re underneath. You rest your head on the cold concrete, close your eyes and...
You can’t wear that shirt. She always wore it after you made love.
You can’t eat bacon and eggs for breakfast on Sundays.

You can’t go to parks, or shopping centres, or to the beach. Or anywhere where there are children.

You stop working, eating. Showering, sleeping.

What is left for you?

What is your one reprieve?
The music.

All you can do is play the music and get lost in the melody, the lyrics.
They take you away to a place where people don’t ask questions. They don’t talk. You can’t see them. They might aswell not be there.

For that moment you fly with the vibration of sound.
Nothing else matters.

You forget. You experience passion for the first time since the tragedy.
You can’t turn it off. It becomes part of you. You are the music.

So... what do you do when you lose everything that ever meant anything to you?

You play music.