"It's time to leave the past in the past and lace up a new set of shoe strings...so we can sit together side by side through amazing..." -Blue October

Each year, whether I get the cd out to all my friends or not, I do make a year in the life CD, formally known as "Year in the Life of Bundy". (I always have the goal of getting it to everyone, but sadly these Cd's, like the Christmas Cards I buy each year, don't always make it.) I collect the songs throughout the year as I hear them or am reminded of songs that pertain to my current situation, and at the end of the year I have about 30 or so songs, and I am forced to pick, choose, narrow and refine my year into about 20 reflective songs. I try to give equal credit to joyous and sad occurrences in the year, but they do not always get equal play. They didn't for 2008.

So, January came bringing 2009, and I was going to share the Year in the Life 2008 CD, but just couldn't do it. It was just too much of a downer. Every time I listened to it, I cried. (Therapeutically, but still, cried none the less.) I was feeling reflective and listened to it a few weeks ago when I was folding laundry, and actually didn't cry. WOW. I thought, hey, I can actually share the songs- I really am making it. :) Great feeling! IF you would like a copy, I'd be glad to get it to you, but I didn't want to just blindly send you this CD. I mean, it ends hopefully, but it's pretty sad at some points. The first song gave me the title for this blog. I started the blog, when I was starting to cull through the songs last year. I listened to these songs a LOT this last year. Here's the final list.

Year in the Life 2008:
Walk You Home- Karmina acoustic version (I listened on repeat quite a lot)
Untitled- Simple Plan
Mark's Song- Eastmountainsouth (Credit to Jen for finding this song and getting it to me!)
It is Well With My Soul- Chris Rice (Song I woke up hearing -in my head- the morning after John was born. The link is to the history of the song I had never heard of and discovered while I was choosing songs for John's funeral. Scroll down on the link to read the history.)
Seamless- Christopher Jak (love the strings in this song)
Broken- Lifehouse
Hardtimes- Eastmountainsouth
No Bad News- Patty Griffin
Laugh So You Don't Cry- Andy Davis
Rise Above This- Seether (Good jogging song)
Awakening- Switchfoot (Another song I jogged to)
Crack the Shutters- Snow Patrol
Back to Where I Was- Eric Hutchinson
One of Those Days- Joshua Radin
Picking Up the Pieces- Blue October (actually came out post 2008, but it is too good to not include on the list, so I broke my rules and added it.)
Our Hope Endures- Natalie Grant
Only Hope- Switchfoot
Jesus' Blood- Hillsong United (Heard during communion and it was a strong reminder of the Lord's presence throughout everything and his faithfulness.)
Your Love is Extravagant- Darrell Evans (Have LOVED this song for many years)

So, the neat thing is one of my first songs for Year in the Life 2009 is entitled "Blue Skies". A lot has happened. The passage of time really does help. I really wasn't sure when my Dad told me it would- I couldn't quite believe him, but it does. God is and has been so faithful to me and I hope this CD says that.