Images can come to us from unexpected places

in unexpected ways.  As I tossed and turned last night, unable to simply go to sleep, the music from the radio took me back to a childhood event. I recall going to drive-in movies with Mama and Daddy and going to sleep in the back seat when the hour grew late and I couldn't stay awake. What I recall with some clarity is the background music from movies being in that seat with me and creating an environment I thought was wonderful and unique.

Movie background music was more than theme songs, and was part of the tapestry of sound and image that comprised the whole experience for me. Some of that music was award-winning scoring by talented people. I didn't know any of that, but was comforted by a blanket of sound that I heard best as I lay on the seat, eyes closed, drifting into sleep. I may have kept some images from the screen in my head, weaving them with the sounds.

I think I felt going to the movies with my parents was a pretty neat thing. I was entertained; I was secure; and I felt the whole thing was a real treat. That was the feeling that came to me last night as I heard the music from the all-night classical radio service coming into my room, sounding like the score of a film although it may have no connection to cinema.

I don't know what it cost to go to a drive-in in the late 1940's and early 1950's. It must have been a small price and probably allowed the three of us to enter as a unit. There was no television at home; we listened to radio I think. I hadn't yet gotten my 'hi-fi' and the 78- and 45-rpm records that I cherished in my adolescence. 

I have no idea how many movies we saw at a drive-in. I only remember one distinctly because I sat in the backseat with a blanket over my head while King Kong raged in gargantuan perspective in front of us. And the music, presented with fortissimo and much crescendo, added to my dilemma. I never did like that movie, not the original nor the newer versions.

Whether the music helped, or my walk through the memories distracted me, I went to sleep finally. Funny how you can be drowsy and droopy eyed in front of the television or over your book and then wide awake in bed. Is this another symptom of aging, engendered in part due to reduced physical activity and perhaps evolving metabolic processes? Don't know.

I could read up on that stuff at night when I can't sleep. Might help.