<p><a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/recordplayer.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1065" title="recordplayer" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/recordplayer-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /></a>Back when I was a kid, I would disappear into my room, lie on my bed, and listen to music.  I would play an album in its entirety.  It was an activity in itself. </p>

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<p>Somehow, 20 - 30+ years later, listening to music is now a background activity:  while hiking, while preparing dinner, while entertaining guests, while driving the car.  Does anyone over the age of 25 have 45 minutes in the day to do nothing but listen to music?  Do grown adults<em> do</em> this, or just lazy teenagers? </p>

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<p>On Day 22, I honestly didn't have the strength for much else.  I received word that my grandfather had been transported to hospice, and I completely unraveled.  I wanted to crawl into a cocoon and hide from the world.  I could have cared less about my original plan of making Caramel Apples. </p>

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<p>Instead, I retreated to my fainting couch.  (You might call it a chaise, but I always prefer the more dramatic and colorful names for things.)  I turned on my iPod and found the latest Ray LaMontagne "album" that my mother gave me for my birthday.  I curled into the fetal position and escaped into the music.  A musical hibernation.  Nothing to do but absorb every note, every lyric, every nuance. </p>

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<p>My sadness and anxiety eased with each song, until the last track, where I drifted off to sleep.  What a gift! </p>

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<p>Maybe lazy teenagers are on to something.  I am going to make a conscious choice to channel my inner teenager more often. </p>

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