ZOSO

I could hardly breath as the wind blew in my face. Flying along I-294 at 80 miles per hour in an old Chevy s10, I had my arm outside the window playing with the wind against the sunny morning sky. My older cousin in the driver’s seat kept his eyes intensely focused on the road as he scanned through radio stations. His eyes widened in delight and a smile broke from his face as he stopped on 97.9 and turned the volume up. Unbeknown to me, the blues riff intro and the gritty passionate voice that followed would change my life forever. I had discovered Led Zeppelin.

Regarded as one of the most innovative, influential, and inspirational Rock Bands in history, Led Zeppelin was the apex of composition and performance in music. With their fourteen multi platinum albums, the progenitors of hard rock truly are masters of their craft. My cousin and I continued jamming out to the opening track of the band’s second album while we zoomed down the interstate. As the break after the first chorus came, the song got quiet and after a distorting cymbal and percussion performance came the hard and heavy guitar solo by Jimmy Page. I was hooked. Their sound was powerful, and exciting, and addicting. For the next two years I could not get enough.

Now, while playing Led Zeppelin I do not find myself listening for the epic Jimmy Page riffs or amazing samba breakdowns from Bonham, I instead consider the lyrics. I contemplated the philosophical meaning of the words delivered by the vocal gymnast Robert Plant: Can a pocket full of Gold really buy you the Stairway to Heaven? I explored my dreams in Kashmir one afternoon while stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Traveling both time and space, I realized the distances people travel is comparable to the vast infinity of space. Likewise, our dreams are also vast and have no limits. The limits of where people can go and what people can achieve is measured only by the extent of their imagination. Entering my sophomore year of high school my dreams seemed limitless. I had my vast goals for the future completely mapped out. I took CAD as an elective and fine tuned my passion for architecture. The sun beat down upon my face when I ran cross country in the fall, the stars filled my dreams when I ran track in the spring, and I heard words spoke in lilting grace when I joined Italian Club. Reality set in Junior Year.

I discovered the reality of life while driving Over the Hills and Far Away on a crisp fall night. Thinking about the less than mediocre ranch house that took me all semester to design. I realized that many dreams come true, and some have silver linings. At the time, the change in my dream of becoming an architect felt contrary to everything I believed about passion and persistence. But persistence only makes sense if you're heading in a sensible direction. As I gazed along the open road, I thought about how much I didn’t know and how much there is to know. It left me guessing about myself and who I truly am. Guessing about what defines me. Led Zeppelin aids my intense desire to make sense of the world, and to make sense of myself and who I am.