Track Take Special: A Mix for the Dumped in All of Us

As with every year, once the holiday season comes to an end, many relationships seem to come to an end as well. It is incredibly hard to console a person who has just been "let go" because we have all been there before. Besides making them a card carrying member of the dumped club, all you can do is listen and once again be reminded that people are complicated and sometimes blind.

In an attempt to help my best friends out of their sadness I have come up with a mix that includes direct songs about break ups, guilty pleasures, songs to wallow in, songs to get mad at, songs with advice, and a whole lot of love (sorry led heads, that song doesn't actually make the cut).

Also a word to the dumped: Whoever just broke your heart, they aren't worth your time or energy. Good riddance and bring on the new chances at love!

Walk On By -- Dionne Warwick
Don't Cry for Me -- The Zombies
Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) -- The Beach Boys
Fluorescent Adolescent -- Arctic Monkeys
Don't Let Him Waste Your Time -- Jarvis Cocker
You Oughta Know -- Alanis Morissette
It Beats Me Every Time -- Peter Bjorn & John
Bad Kids -- Black Lips
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb -- Spoon
You're So Vain -- Carly Simon
One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) -- Bob Dylan
Invincible -- Ok Go
Hiding Neath My Umbrella -- God Help The Girl
This Boy -- Franz Ferdinand
Stop Your Sobbing -- The Kinks
Beware Of Darkness -- George Harrison
(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone [Single Version] -- The Monkees
You Can't Always Get What You Want -- The Rolling Stones

For My Grandfather

There are certain sentences that never set in when you hear them for the first time, even the second or third time.

“I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”
“Will you marry me?”
“We won the lottery!”

I believe that the hardest one to grasp is always that someone you know has passed away. It’s a difficult experience trying to understand that you will no longer see this person or hear their voice for the rest of your life even if you did not see that person every day, or think about them every week. This is the surreal experience that I have been thrust into when I heard earlier this morning that my grandfather had died.

While I immediately wanted to feel the pain and depression that a sentence like “Bailey Bop I have some bad news…” evokes, I just couldn’t really experience anything. I wasn’t in disbelief because he had been struggling with his own life for a while, I wasn’t devastated because I knew he was no longer in pain, and I wasn’t sure how my reaction was going to affect the others who will be touched by this loss. I wasn’t sure of anything as I heard my father explain to me what happened and I searched for the pain in his voice. It was his father.

My relationship with my grandpa was good, but as good as a long distance friendship is, maybe even more like a pen pal. I can only remember seeing him a handful of times in my entire life, but that has to do with me living in California and his residence in North Carolina. I loved my grandpa as much as I could and would always cherish the memories I had with him, but as his health got worse I was just more nervous about what his death would do to my dad. As much as I love my grandfather, I love my dad infinitely more, and I never ever want to see him hurting. I believed that if I shed any tears for my grandfather’s death that it was truly for the pain of my father.

These types of thoughts, which I used as coping mechanisms through the holidays and as I traveled back to school, held up brilliantly right up until the moment that I hung up the phone with my dad. I was heartbroken by the news. It had finally happened, and instead of only caring about my dad, I remembered all of my moments with my incredibly tall grandfather with the tinted coke bottle glasses and started to feel the tears running down my cheek. His death had affected me because of who he was, not just because of his position in my family.

It was at this moment that I no longer felt a mental block between myself and my grandfather. I was proud to have known him and been a part of his life. The bad news that my father had delivered to me in four or five sentences had transformed into the best memory that I will ever have with my grandfather. I realized that I loved him for who he was to me. He was mine and always will be.