Music is your mood.

Are you feeling like a total rock star, jamming to your favorite guitar riff? Are you feeling so full of joy that you belt out any song that comes on at the top of your lungs? Or are you feeling more quiet and reflective? Do you even sing along, or do you simply listen and think? Maybe you’re feeling really sad, and that one song comes up and makes you bawl your eyes out. Maybe you’re feeling stressed or angry, and a hardcore headbanging song starts playing. Music is whatever emotion you want to express, sometimes even an emotion you need to get out of your system.

Music is the faith you have in something bigger and better to come.

This one might just be me and perhaps difficult to explain to others. But do you ever listen to or find a song that fills you with hope? Do you feel more uplifted once the song is done, regardless of how you felt when the song began? Somehow, music takes you higher. Whether you need a boost during your day or not, whether you need a change in perspective or not, some songs inspire you to believe in greater things, that things can be better. Music is the faith that I choose to believe in.

Yet most importantly, music is your memory.

There’s at least one song that you can listen to, and it transports you back in time to a different place and jump-starts your nostalgia. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to Queen songs and remembered those late nights back in high school, driving around town with my best friends and blasting those tunes at full volume. There’s “Jackson” by Johnny Cash, which specifically reminds me of karaoke night at a bar in Boulder where my co-workers and I met up for my birthday one year. There are countless themes from movie, TV, and video game soundtracks that I can listen to and pinpoint the exact moment they played and the emotions I felt watching the story unfold or playing a character. I listen to “Isn’t She Lovely?” by Stevie Wonder and relive the father-daughter dance at my wedding, recall the happy tears I cried as I danced with my dad. The same can be said for “Faithfully” by Journey, which is our song. Kevin and I shared both of our first dances, as boyfriend and girlfriend and then as husband and wife, to that song, despite the years that passed between the two. And we’ll dance to that song for many years to come. Music is an amazing way of holding memories close to your heart and forever in your mind. Music is an incredible way to create new memories, too.

Ultimately, music is what you make of it, no matter what that means. According to you, music is…