In May 2015, I wrote a post called A Mother’s Mix Day. The title was a play on words which included A Mother’s Mix, which is the name of the CD playlists that I have been curating since 2010 and since I give out these playlists every Mother’s Day, I combined the two for a Mother’s Day post. I know, it’s very Wheel of Fortune-like, right? Well today’s post uses A Mother’s Mix Day as a base and goes a little further.

In that 2015 post, I wrote this exact quote: “Mix tapes - we loved them when tapes were actually around. Before you know it, CDs will be obsolete soon too. But for now, pinch someone with a mix of songs. Make someone smile each time they listen to it, knowing that you thought of them.“

Every Mother’s Day since 2011, in order to explain why I am gifting a playlist, I include a note. All those who had been given the CDs years prior already know why I make these playlists but in order to keep the stories “alive” I purposely retell them. The notes say: “The tradition of ‘A Mother’s Mix’ began in 2009.  I had met a mother and her child Micah in a “Baby and Me” class that I went to with Beau.  Micah passed away in July 2009. When Mother’s Day 2010 was approaching, I felt so sad for my friend who would be celebrating without her Micah.  In hopes of soothing her, I made a copy of a CD that I had received in my goody bag from a baby shower that I attended in 2009 and sent it to her.  It was a beautiful compilation of gentle songs contributed by all who attended the shower.  The following Mother’s Day, we were all still mourning the loss of Chase, Beau’s buddy, who died in March 2011.  I had been pregnant with Beau at the same time my friend Mandy was pregnant with Chase. They were born 14 days apart and we lived 4 houses away.  This wasn’t supposed to happen, the boys were supposed to be besties for years.  Heartbroken, I compiled two Mother’s Day CDs for Mandy.  One with heartfelt songs and the other with playful songs because Chase loved to dance!  Soon, I was making copies for other moms that I loved and cherished.  I felt like songs could sooth them and honor them because being a mother is a tough job.  This tradition perseveres because of the mothers who have lost babies, like Sophia Love.  But it also continues because of all the mothers who need to celebrate motherhood. My kids and I collect songs from the day after Mother’s Day until days before the next Mother’s Day. It’s a compilation of songs that speak to us and we want to share them with you. I always include songs from an artist who has passed away during those days.  Curating songs is a tradition that I really love to do…”

For years I wanted to share my playlist with many moms but I just didn’t have the man power to put the playlists onto CDs, decorate the CDs, put the CDs in a cover with the song titles and artists and then mail them all. Because it was time consuming, my list maxed out at fifteen mom recipients and it would make me sad each year to leave someone off. I kept hoping for a better way to distribute or share this with others. I remember specifically asking my cousin Cherry Pie to help me send links out to people but we kept hitting a wall - there wasn’t a way to do that back then. Now with Spotify, I don’t have to leave anyone off my list. Thank you Spotify for existing! I can simply send a link to share my list with many mom friends. It’s MAGIC - they can listen to the playlist anytime. Spotify came in handy last year for this project. I had been busy with the move from MN to CO and I realized I was out of time to put together CDs for the special moms in my life. I couldn’t bear to let my tradition or ritual be missed so I learned how to create a Spotify playlist and it really saved me so much time and effort. Most friends appreciated the playlist being on Spotify because they don’t own CD players anymore.

However, for two of my besties I will continue to make hardcopies because they listen to the music in the car (their cars still have CD players) and I am happy to send them out as Mother’s Day thoughtful pinches. I’m old school myself and like to have a physical copy of the CD. I would love to put all these A Mother’s Mix CDs in a time capsule and have my grandkids discover them from “back in the day”.

Because I’m excited that I can share my thoughtful pinch with all of you, the stories behind each song chosen for A Mother’s Mix 2022 should be in this post too. First, I must clarify that the compilation of the playlist begins the day after Mother’s Day and usually ends days before the next. So for this year’s playlist - songs could have been added May 10, 2021 (the day after Mother’s Day in 2021) all the way through May 8, 2022. With that in mind, when I choose songs by artists who have passed away, the year is from Mother’s Day to Mother’s Day. For example, Charlie Watts from the Rolling Stones died in August 2021, Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters died on March 25, 2022 and in between “Astro” Wilson of UB40 died on November 6, 2021. In Charlie’s honor I chose: “Beast of Burden” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” - two great songs that mothers all over the world feel like and say to their kids all the time. In Taylor Hawkins memory I had to put “My Hero” and “Everlong” - titles that ring true for most moms. And for Astro Wilson, this one was tougher because previous playlists already had some great UB40 songs that I would have chosen this year to include. Fortunately after more digging around, I am happy about choosing “The Way the Things You Do” and “Groovin”. May these musical artists Rest in Peace knowing that they leave behind impactful musical contributions.

Now moving onto some songs that do not need any explanation but of course I will explain. Let’s start with Ciara. She recently joined the Broncos (well, really her hub did but…she is a Bronco) and so “One, Two Step” and “Level Up” are two badass mom songs that HAVE TO BE ON THE PLAYLIST!! Olivia Rodrigo is on our playlist because 1. She is a Filipina 2. She’s one of our faves and 3. My daughter and I went to her concert with our besties. We included “Deja Vu” and “Traitor” because these songs have just the right amount of mom sass in them. The additions of Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More” and The Weekend “Out of Time” are because moms and our daughters will be seeing them together in concert in August 2022. And of course we couldn’t leave off the best curse word song out there by Gayle “abcdefu”. For the Police song, “Bring on the Night”, I had recently heard it and the beat and the memories just screamed put me on A Mother’s Mix so it is on there. Besides, usually at night I “Wash Away the Day” with some Prosecco so I’m with the Police - bring on the night! And after every night there is morning so I included Train’s “AM Gold”. Finally we arrive at Country music. This is something very new to me. It could be because I now live in Denver and I wear cowboy boots and I watch Yellowstone. Or it could be because my daughter loves this song or that we live off the street Tennessee but we included Morgan Wallen’s “Talkin’ Tennessee.” And we purposely end the playlist with Niko Moon’s “Good Time”; our final song of A Mother Mix 2022. The story for this song is about the night my family was driving back from a great meal at one of our favorite restaurants in CO and we had put on “Good Time” to listen to because we were reminiscing about a rain storm in Costa Rica and driving like maniacs in golf carts to get back to our villa. Meanwhile back in CO listening to the song while driving home from dinner, I couldn’t help but feel so happy that my family was together and that we were living a new life in a new state and city, working for a new team and having a really good life. This song reminds me of that one moment and I hope I never ever forget it.

There you have it! I will try to get that Spotify link on this post so that all who want access to it can play it and you’ll already know the stories behind each song. Before you listen, I need to give a big head’s up: I included the explicit versions of the songs even though I know most of us listen to these playlists with our kids in the car. It was a hard decision for me to make but in the end, I kept the songs the way they were intentionally written. And let’s be real, moms cuss a lot and our kids know it.

Thank you Spotify for making this a reality to share Mother’s Day thoughtful pinches with all my gals.

Pinches,

Barb