Kansas - "Dust In the Wind"

In high school, I considered this my theme song. This was the song that I turned to when I was having a hard day, when I needed to relax, when I wanted to escape, when I just wanted "me" time. This song has meant a lot of different things to me over the years.

When I first heard this song, it hit me as a "don't worry too much about now - it will pass" song. The first line "I close my eyes. Only for a moment and the moment's gone" and "Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky" helped me cope with a lot of things. It helped put things in perspective for me knowing that time will pass, and things will be ok. Whatever I was dealing with in the moment would eventually go away and be over. The whole idea of "all we are is dust in the wind" also helped me realize that even though things felt huge at the time, in the grand scheme of things it would be a lot smaller than it felt at the time.

Toward the end of high school, the song started telling me how precious time is and that we need to live each moment to the fullest (very characteristic senior mindset). "All your money won't another minute buy." The good moments in life also won't always last forever, so enjoy, appreciate, and take advantage of the good while you have it. I loved high school and lived it up until the day I left.

Listening to this song recently, it is obviously a song about how fragile life is. We really all are dust in the wind. Instantly our lives can be changed, for the good or the bad, and turn in directions we never would have suspected. I still see the same messages as I did before, just some added dimensions.

Anyway, I have always loved this song. Mostly because of the feeling and meaning of the words, but also the soothing guitar and the string interlude. This song will always be a favorite of mine. In fact, it has made it onto my life soundtrack :)

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