COLUMNIST
‘a peaceful, easy Feeling’
Honoring the words that speak to the soul
Mandy Byrd
I'm one of those people who can remember the lyrics to a song within hearing the first couple of notes.
It could be a song I haven’t heard in 20 years, but as soon as I hear those first sounds, the words come flooding back, always accompanied by a memory as well. I can hear a song like “Alive” by Pearl Jam and be transported back to college – standing in the middle of a group at a party, probably wearing a flannel shirt and a pair of hiking boots, waving a Keystone Light in the air (beverage of choice at my college: Why? I’ll never know), and singing at the top of my lungs.
There are still songs I can’t listen to because they remind me of one of my best friends who passed away five years ago. It makes my heart hurt.
Music is powerful. The first band I remember really loving were The Eagles. My brother is 15 years older than me, and I can remember him coming home when I was about 4 or 5 with eight-track tapes of The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers … the list goes on. He would let me sit on the floor in his bedroom and listen with him, and he’d talk about the music. I remember “Witchy Woman” and “Hotel California” by The Eagles being two of my favorites. This was the soundtrack to my childhood.
When Glenn Frey, one of the founders of The Eagles, passed away in January (right on the heels of the death of David Bowie), I was sad and stunned. Hadn’t they just played in Bossier City last summer? How could this happen? It was like a piece of my youth was broken.
I thought I took it hard, but my friend Lindsay was genuinely heartbroken. She would come to work and tell me that she couldn’t stop listening to The Eagles. She would leave work and immediately begin her sad playlist. She would get emotional just talking about them, recounting how she had been to the concert that was used in the “History of The Eagles” documentary. For her, it was a painful blow.
In the midst of mourning a rock legend, I was browsing Pinterest and ran across something I thought Lindsay would like. It was a pin that connected me to a shop on Etsy (one of my other favorite websites: People sell their crafts and handmade items.) by mollymatin, who creates sheets with song lyrics from different bands. Magically, she had one for The Eagles, and I didn’t hesitate to buy one for Lindsay. When it came in, I loved it, and so did she. It looks like aged paper, and the lettering was different for every chunk of lyrics.
When I gave it to Lindsay, I think she was so surprised she didn’t know what to say, but I got a text later saying I had made her day. Goal achieved. I truthfully never thought when I started using Pinterest that it would be such a great place to find gifts.
Another gift I found on Pinterest is one that is a gift to your friends, family, or even strangers – the gift of fresh(ish) air. As a teacher, we educators have to share a bathroom with each other – in our wing of the school there’s 11 of us. Here’s a fun fact about teachers: We have incredible bladders. We don’t just get to run to the restroom whenever we need to go – who would watch our 30-plus students while we were handling our business?
We get five minutes in between classes and 20 minutes at lunch – that’s it. It’s a rush and a line at those times to get our chance at the throne. One of my friends brought in this spray called Poo Pourri to help alleviate any smells left behind when, well, you know (And yes, that’s really what it’s called!). This stuff isn’t air freshener per se; you’re supposed to spray it in the bowl before you go, and it keeps the odor from “escaping.” I was skeptical, but it actually kind of works. It can get pricey, but I found a recipe for DIY Poo Pourri spray on Pinterest. It’s basically a combination of distilled water, rubbing alcohol and essential oils mixed in a spray bottle.
The oils are supposed to trap the smell, eliminating the need for air freshener after the fact. Truth be told, my homemade mix didn’t work as well as the original.
Mandy Byrd is a teacher at Airline High School and a business owner originally from Colorado.
She is mother to Gracie and wife to her handsome devil-of-a-man, Eric.
Send Pinterest ideas and comments to Mandy at mandybyrd@icloud.com.
