Chariots of Fire, or How My Family Tried to Kill Me

The first in a series of catching up

Lots of people like to tease their toddlers. Sure, it’s cute to watch little people scream and cry, right?[1] So we do it. It’s hilarious. I don’t know if it served some evolutionary purpose, or if we just like their terrified little faces in response to mundane things, but we do it.

That being said, we may be scarring the children in our lives. In fact, I think that’s probably why my generation is messed up. But I digress.

When I was a tiny child, my family had a favorite way to cause this reaction in me. My family played the theme from Chariots of Fire.

Can you hear it in your head? Dum dum dum dum dum dum, (chang chang) dum dum dum dum dum.

I would embed it here for you, but I don’t like it, so I won’t. Google it yourselves. I’ll wait.

Ready?

So, this song made me panic and cry when my family would put the CD in. (Dating myself, I suspect this was one of, if not the very first CD my family owned. We were early adopters.)[2]

I don’t remember any of this. I still hate the song though.

I read a few books this summer that were non-law books, just to give my brain a break from legal life. One of the books I read was about music, as therapy, as connection between people, and as it interacts with the brain, including some strange stories. For example, some people hear music before they have a seizure. Some people have seizures caused by a particular song.

Some of those seizures, although measurable in the brain, manifest only by a general discomfort with the song that is playing.

Just saying.

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[1] Note: Yes, I did repeatedly show my toddler nephew a toy that made him cry because it was just so adorable—why didn’t he like that cow?? So I’m the pot, you’re the kettle, whatever. We all do it.

[2] Somebody’sMother has clarified that they only did it a couple of times.