"Aint it Funny How a Melody..."

Can bring back a memory?  That's the rest of the song.  Don't act like you don't know it.

I was driving into work this morning and heard a song...one that I can't recall now (grr!! It will come to me in a minute I hope) but I was, in my mind, immediately back in high school, riding around with my friends...probably looking for a way to get into some trouble.  I know people say "a picture is worth a thousand words", and sometimes a scent can remind you of a person or place from your past; but for me, the real driver of my memory is music.  For some reason, music is how I associate the emotions of those memories. I cannot hear "How Great Thou Art" without automatically feeling like the saddest nine year old in the world.  I remember crystal clear every, single detail of the moment that song was sung that sad November day in the First Baptist Church - the day of my grandfather's funeral. I remember what I had on and where I was sitting and how I felt like my entire world was crumbling beneath me.  (and truth be told, now I'm crying just thinking about it).  But there isn't a time when I hear that song that I'm not transported back to that day.

On a different note, the song "These Are the Days" (the Natalie Merchant song) brings back all kinds of weird feelings that I can't even identify.  I specifically remember being in my friend Courtni's car, with our friends Rebecca and Jennifer, driving down Highway 17 North in Surfside - singing this song at the top of our lungs, knowing things were about to change forever.  And they did.  It was the summer we all graduated from high school.  So while the lyrics of the song are somewhat positive & upbeat - it also signified, to me anyway, the end of one chapter in my life and the beginning of another. It was exciting, but scary - overwhelming to say the least.  And I still hear that song, turn it up as loud as I can't stand and feel those same mixed emotions as if were happening again!

There are so many songs that remind me of college I don't know where to start...this might explain why I was enrolled longer than most.  I should have focused more on school, less on making awesome memories.  Nah. Just the other day I heard Doo Wop (That Thing) by Lauryn Hill & it made me giddy! That whole album reminds me of sophomore year, which was no shining moment in the grand scheme of things - but that song in particular reminds me of the first time I ever went to Edisto.  Ironically, we now have a house there.  But back then, it was just me and Jenny Harper - cruising down I-95 in the green Camry, drinking luke warm beer and having to pee in the woods because we got lost.  Ahh good times!! I could go on all day about college songs, but I won't - instead I'll make a college playlist on Grooveshark immediately!

I actually already have an playlist of songs that remind me of my husband.  Some remind me of the good times, and some not so good.  You'll have that over the course of seven years, you know.  A funny example I'll share is Single Ladies by Beyonce.  I almost feel bad for Jerry looking back on it.  The ill-timed release of this song made his life (and mine!) a lot more difficult during a time when I thought surely we should be engaged...and 6 of my friends actually DID get engaged before us.  Poor guy.  Then there are the songs you actually chose yourself to mark the biggest occasions...like the song we danced to at our wedding.  It's funny -we narrowed it down to three or four and all of the songs we didn't end up using now just remind of me of wedding planning.  But "Then" by Brad Paisley is the song to which I will forever remember dancing with Jerry on (so far) the most important, special day of my life.  When I hear it on the radio, a warm, goofy, aww shucks feeling comes over me & I wish I could go back to that day just for a few minutes.  I hope it always does that to me.

Honorable Mention 
Rude Boy - Rihanna (my bachelorette party)
Iris - Goo Goo Dolls - (last day in the dorms, freshman year)