I love when I’m tuned into something other than my own thoughts in order to hear something really cool. I heard item #3 today and I decided I would write about this. Here they are in reverse order because I tried to rank them according to how much whitespace they give me!

5. The Ocean Waves Crashing

There is very little I like better than to hear the sound of the ocean waves crashing against rocks, against each other, onto the shore. I’m not sure what it is about it, but the roar, is so big–it’s not that its so loud, but it’s so encompassing. It has a way of soothing me even if I’m really sad, frustrated, or whatever. When I lived in Monterey, California, I went down to the rocky shore (that’s my favorite part), at least twice a week just so I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks. It made me feel not quite so lonely.

I don’t get to hear this in person too often since I live inland. Way inland. Like Ohio. But the next best thing is right below, and it is almost just as good.

4. The Wind

I have always loved, loved, loved the sound of the wind. I remember when I was a little girl and I would just stand in the wind so that I could hear it rush through the tree leaves in my backyard. Ok, it’s not the wind, really, is it, but it’s the sound that materializes as a result of the wind. It’s not just the sound I love, but the sight it makes as well.

Am I getting too far off if I tell you how seeing branches being blown about by the wind really makes me feel good? I love everything about the wind. Except riding a bike against it.

3. My Dogs Lapping Water or Eating

I know this is technically two things, but for brevity’s sake (and because I didn’t want to give my dogs two things on the list) I decided to place them together. I love to hear my dog crunching their dog food, and it’s even better if you give them a peanut butter treat, and then they lick their mouths really hard to try to get the peanut butter off the roof of their mouths. Even better than that is the sound of them lapping their water. Did you know that when a dog laps water their tongue actually rolls inward to scoop the water into their mouths? Like from the tip of it. Here, I found this slow-mo video to see what I mean. (Video by Time Warp on YouTube)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ch2pNkZwU]

2. My Husband Playing Guitar

This of course, is more personal to me, but one I absolutely had to write about. I’m sure some of you might include “the sound of my children’s voices” if you were writing a similar list. But this is my personal one. He is a bigtime Fender guy, and this picture is of his Fender Telecaster. Usually he plays very quietly, without the amps on, and I have no idea why he does that. But sometimes he will turn the amps up loud and I love it! He’s actually a pretty good guitar player. He’s been playing since he was a kid. He even got accepted into music school at Ohio State University, but majored in Physics and Math instead. Go figure.

1. The Crinkle of My Bible Pages

When I was a little girl . . . and a teenager . . . ok, I still do it, if I’m sitting in church and the sermon is a little boring, I love to make noise with my Bible pages. Just a little noise. The “turning the pages” kind of noise. Bible pages are always so thin that they make that certain crinkly noise that for some reason has always delighted me. Sometimes, I will start to turn the page, stop when it’s at a 90 degree angle, and shake it ever so slightly. Crinkle, crinkle. Yes! Gotta love it!

So, did I make you think of some sounds from your childhood, or from more recently? What kind of sounds do you like to hear?