Theme Songs

I was reading the Blah Blah Blahger today in my feed reader. First of all, I realized that I haven't really done any blog reading since Wednesday. Oops! Well, I've been busy not procrastinating, so there's my excuse.

On Wednesday, JJ talked about theme songs, and how finding and applying a theme song to your life can really help you get a sesne of purpose or calm. Odd as this sounds, because I think the concept smacks of the sort of self-help-y nonsense that normally drives me crazy, I have found this to be totally true. I've always had theme songs over the years, although I tend not to trumpet the fact. There just always seems to be a song that fits how I feel about myself and my life at a given point in time.

I'm going to admit right now, my theme song is one that you may think is hackneyed or over-used. You might think it's totally trite to pick this... but, well, I don't care.

Anyway, it's really Mr. Scrimp's fault.




For nearly two years now, my theme song has been "La Vie En Rose," as sung by the incomparable Edith Piaf.

I'm not really the type who actually looks at the world through rose-colored glasses... quite the opposite. I'm a confirmed and talented pessimist. Let me tell you, it takes skill to worry as much about things as I do.

But Mr. Scrimp is as optimistic as I am not, and then some. When we first began "dating" (it's always hard to know what to call a long-distance relationship), he used to hum this song on the phone all the time. Sometimes he would sing it to me. Mr. Scrimp refused on personal policy to say the words "I love you" until he was sure he was going to propose to me and that we would get married, but every time I heard him humming or whistling or singing this song, I knew that "I love you" was what he meant.

Mr. Scrimp's friends like to say that he bends the world around him to fit his desires. It's true. In general, he's one of those lucky people who simply expects that things will go well for him because they almost always have. Once you spend any amount of time with him, that positive thinking and happy attitude start to rub off on you. You start to really believe that things will be okay, you really can do that thing you didn't think you could do.

So this song, even though I'm not sure how well it reflects me as a chronic worrier, is still the song that fits my life these days. It reminds me of my whole nine-year history with Mr. Scrimp. It reminds me of our wedding day, when we danced our first married dance to it. It reminds me of cooking together in our cramped, tiny kitchen, or puttering around the house doing chores, or unpacking our things to start our life together, because one of us ends up humming or singing it so often.

Sometimes we sing it this way instead, since Mr. Scrimp doesn't speak French:

I listen to this when I'm down, or when I'm happy, or when I feel particularly strongly for Mr. Scrimp and don't know how to express it, or sometimes just for no reason at all except to get back in touch with how wonderful my life has been since the moment I got my heart's desire and found out that it was everything I'd hoped it would be.

What's your theme song?