Janis Jaquith
janis@radioessays.com
532 words

Oops here he comes - my husband's home. I can hear the gravel crunching as Harry's car comes up the driveway. I jump up and leap toward the CD player - better turn off the music.

It's not that Harry doesn't like music, he does. It's just that I have this problem with music, and he finds it sort of exasperating.

For some reason, I'll find myself drawn to a particular song or piece of music, and I will listen to it over and over - and I do mean over and over - for weeks, even months at a time. And I never do get sick of whatever it is; I just replace it with a new song to obsess over.

And Harry, being, like, normal, hates this. Once, we were on vacation and I brought along a mix tape that I'd made. I had played it on the long drive to the beach, and as we were driving back home - a week later - I popped the same tape into the tape player, and Harry stopped me, saying, "But we listened to that one just last week."

Like a week later was too soon!

Imagine how this poor man felt several years ago, when I had this thing for that song from Oklahoma: "The Surrey With the Fringe On Top." I put that one on the record player over and over again. And I still love it - you know that part where it gets quiet, and Curly sings real slow, "Don't you wish you'd go on forever?" Oh, man, I love that part. Every time, I feel a twinge in my heart and I could just cry when they get to that line.

I think it has something to do with the fact that I have Attention Deficit Disorder - one of the features of ADD is having a lousy short-term memory. I feel like I just cannot drink deeply enough of whatever song it is I'm obsessed with.

Imagine a sponge treated with Scotch Guard - that's my short-term memory. And I just keep pouring water over it, hoping that maybe this time it'll soak in.

Anyway, you can imagine what it would be like to be married to someone who plays the same music over and over again. You'd want to run screaming into the street.

My latest obsession is for a Dave Matthews Band song, "Two Step." This one has been going on for some time now. It started when I played it in the car on the way to my son Jack's wedding. It has the line, "Celebrate we will, 'cause life is short but sweet for certain"... and, well, it's just the whole song; it was perfect.

And that's the song I was just listening to - good thing I turned it off before Harry opens the door.

Oh, wait, it's not Harry, it's the UPS truck. Great, now I can listen to it again, just one more time - okay?