Music = Memories

I just finished listening to “The Highway Don’t Care” by Tim McGraw and the song conjured up sweet memories of our most recent vacation. Mental pictures of being on the boat, wind blowing my hair, the sun setting and glistening off the ocean with a drink in my hand. I love how music can put you right back into a time and place.

James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” puts me back around the 4-H campfire and “After the Lovin” by Engelbert Humperdinck makes me fondly recall the day Mike and I moved in together. The song was playing on the radio as I was unpacking my clothes in the bedroom, full of excitement for our future. Anything by Dave Matthews puts me back to my college days, along with Hootie & The Blowfish, and Live (“Lightening Crashes” is amazing). “These Are Days” by 10,000 Maniacs brings me to the memory of senior year in high school, sitting in the auditorium and watching a slide show of pictures as we got ready to say goodbye to that chapter in our lives. Hall & Oates reminds me of driving in my dad’s grey work van. “Last Dance” by Donna Summer reminds me of singing and dancing around the house with my mother. Tiffany and Debbie Gibson remind of my youth and having my friends over as we sang along to their songs in my basement.  “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 reminds me of my fleeting moment of “fame” and filming a TV pilot.  Alicia Key’s “No One” conjures up the memory of driving to the food tasting for our wedding, the anticipation of planning the big day and becoming a wife.. “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars brings up feelings of pure and tender love. That song was popular when my daughter, Audrey was born and I would listen to it as I took her for walks and sang it to her with tears of overwhelming joy in my eyes.

There are so many songs and so many memories I have attached to music. Most of the memories are sweet, some bittersweet. I am grateful that I not only have pictures to help tell my life story, but lyrics and melodies to also create snapshots of what once was.