Air Guitar Rules - Chords of Life is a memoir exploring the indelible impact music has on one's life while navigating the highs, lows, and everything in-between. The author captures the reader's attention by sharing intimate details of her personal journey using the backdrop of a nostalgic soundtrack. Thought-provoking, vulnerable, and comedic, this book is certain to have you strumming your own air guitar in no time, inviting you to answer the question - "What is the soundtrack of my life?"
Air Guitar Rules - Chords of Life is a memoir exploring the indelible impact music has on one's life while navigating the highs, lows, and everything in-between. The author captures the reader's attention by sharing intimate details of her personal journey using the backdrop of a nostalgic soundtrack. Thought-provoking, vulnerable, and comedic, this book is certain to have you strumming your own air guitar in no time, inviting you to answer the question - "What is the soundtrack of my life?"
After being forced abruptly into the pool against my will, my body and mind couldnāt keep pace with the unexpected and quickly unfolding peril. Experiencing the sensation a bullet might encounter being shot out of the barrel of a gun, the speed at which I was sinking was petrifying. The chlorine-fueled liquid invaded my lungs before instinct forced me to hold my breath as the frigid isolation of water surrounded me. As I crashed haphazardly to the floor in the deep end of nowhere, the moment became suspended in time. My only-child persona has never felt so scared and alone; ironic, since the concept of being alone doesnāt typically faze me. I was filled with dread, staring head-on at what I believed would be the end to my brief six-year-long life.
It started innocently enough. The adults at the house party proposed that the kids go play in the pool. Dad wasnāt aware I hadnāt learned how to swim properly yet, given all the time Iād spent down the shore with Grandma and Pop. It didnāt actually occur to me eitherāthe pool had a shallow end, and Iād spent plenty of time in my cousin Christinaās inground pool, splashing around where my feet could touch the bottom.
The house where we were attending this particular summer party featured a sprawling backyard, and the massive death trap in question was situated all the way at the back of the property. Our newly formed tribe of half-pints made our way excitedly through the lush green grass, running barefoot with soft blades tickling our soft pink toes as the scent of freshly manicured lawn filled our tiny nostrils. No parents followedāhey, it was the ā70s.
Once we reached the pool, one of the kids suggested a game. In some warped form of tag, this game involved someone being declared the monster, assigned the unpopular duty of chasing down other kids to get released from this most undesirable role. None of us considered running around the pool hazardous, and certainly our parents assumed weād play inside the pool, not scurry along the edges like a pack of maniacs. The current monster, a boy much bigger and stronger than me, startled me from behind as I was running for cover. Making up his own rules to the game, he pushed me forcefully into the deep end. My newly pronounced title after being tagged the monster led to the dangerous situation I now found myself in.
As my mounting fear grew, something deep down in my core snapped open wideāI suddenly comprehended my motivation to live was stronger than my fear of drowning. Peering up toward safety, I felt an invisible, comforting presence forcibly pushing me from my bottom. Flailing yet determined, I launched myself toward the cloud-filled sky as quickly as my unproven swimming skills would take me. Up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up . . . I greeted the sudden burst of air with indescribable appreciation.
As I climbed shakily out of the pool, I just wanted to get back to my father to visibly see him in order to convince myself I was safe. Iām not sure I even told him what happenedāI was in shock and had no words to describe my experience.
While this event did not prove to define me or succeed in ending my time prematurely, I learned three valuable lessons, which Iāve been reminded of throughout the course of my life thus far:
1) Wearing any type of mask, monster or otherwise, lands a person in deep water. It would take me 37 years to understand that living authentically is the key to happiness and fulfillment.
2) Acceptance of ourselves and others, including the monster, is critical to harmony on Earth. Being different is an invincible superpower, taking us higher than our wildest dreams can imagine. We need to tap into our uniqueness as well as the gifts of others to continue learning and evolving.
3) Whether innate or learned, with motivation, commitment, discipline, and unwavering faith, we can achieve absolutely anything, including the thing we initially believed to be impossible.
After Iād already long committed to writing this memoir and created the title, I discovered the instrumental āChords of Lifeā by Joe Satriani. Iāve always considered Joe one of the best guitarists but wasnāt familiar with this arrangementāit was fateful to stumble upon it one day during a random Google search. Itās the perfect backdrop to my story, emphasizing stellar guitar playing, an erratically paced tempo, and the absence of words. My introvert persona would enjoy nothing more than to move you through this journey of nostalgia by feeling the power of the music and the ups and downs to which I hope you can all relate. You will come to discover Iāve always considered myself a poet, and I found an old one written years ago prognosticating the invitation I offer to you now. Are you ready to come with me? Iām pumped. Letās go . . .
MEMORIES OF THE HEART
Save all good memories throughout life as you go
Treasure them dearly as you continue to grow
Cherish the moments without clinging to the past
Thankful good surpasses bad with the knowledge neither is meant to last
For each contains a shooting star created just for you
They console your aching heart when youāre feeling blue
While bittersweet to recall those involving loved ones no more
They help you hold tighter to those who endure
Travel back with me as I glide through time and space
The heart is designed to trap that which the mind has erased
This book starts strong - the author uses a clever way of engagement by offering access to a playlist for the reader that I highly suggest you take advantage of! As for me, I didn't have the time for this critical step initially and could've kicked myself. The first 100+ pages of "Chords of Life" were so engaging that I felt the need to stop. Google/YouTube search out the unfamiliar songs or songs that brought up my reminiscence from days gone by to bring myself into the author's world more thoroughly - and every time I stopped to pause and listen, it was worth it.
A memoir you can experience with more than one of your five senses is genius! Why the three-star rating, then? While the author may hope her story of arriving and accepting the parts of herself she had previously tried to dampen down, keep hidden, not acknowledge or fully embrace earlier in life would somehow help others within their own stories, this takes actionable steps for others to follow not found here.
This is a memoir that gets bogged down in its middle. It's too long. A person's life encompasses more than one story. It is better to break your life into more than one book with different strains of similar notes playing throughout than to attempt to put it all into one body of work.
Hedging around the truth, as it was lived out, puts the reader in the same place of uncertainty as one's becoming, which could be thought of as well done. However, I found the drawn-out trail toward this author's current live-out-loud life cumbersome. You know the punch line as a reader before it's spelled out; the book's cover design gives audacious clues!
With the above in mind, why is this book three stars and worth reading? Everyone's life story does have something to offer us as a human collective. There are always lessons to be gleaned and learned. For me, this book serves as a cautionary tale, and that's not something the author nor every reader may understand. For others, this book may serve as a reminder to live one's truth from the moment you know it.
All memoirs are worth reading, and this one is enjoyable because it hits all the right notes with song correlation and can evoke nostalgia in most of its readers. Enjoy the words written and also the musical journey they take you on!