Friday, September 26, 2008

Claim

My high school years have exploded all over Facebook in the past few weeks. Folks I haven't thought of in a million years are appearing in the "people you may know" tab. There is a post percolating in my brain about high school but I'm struggling to get the tone right. That's what the rainy weekend will be for since I'm still iffy on bike riding on slick roads.

The weather is definitely turning here and cold weather makes me both melancholy and nostalgic even without the internet hitting me over the head with faces from the past. One of the great things about the age of iTunes and the MP3 is that it's become a million times easier to reclaim songs with sad memory baggage attached to them. For years and years my heart would drop into my shoes every time I heard "Now That We Found Love" by Heavy D and the Boyz because of the part it played in the worst stomp of my high school career (for anyone who did not attend Cottonwood High School, stomps were the non-date dances. And they were either amazing or horrible, there was no middle ground. Because your crush either asked you to dance or he didn't. Period.) But then three or four years ago I bought it on iTunes and now I can listen to it without one bit of teen angst ruining the bass line. Which is good because I do love me some Heavy D (Is It Good To You and Nuttin' But Love being two of my early nineties favorites).

But there is a song that I can't seem to clean up no matter how many I listen to it. I hear the first five seconds and I am in rental car in Chicago, completely broken hearted over a boy, listening to a voicemail message from my friend Emily and finding this song on what felt like every single station in the whole city. I adore Chicago, my event went well that weekend and I had some of the best sushi of my life one of my nights there but it's like I couldn't escape this damn song. But I really liked it so I would catch myself listening to it anyway. And now, even though that boy is long gone and so are those feelings, I can't shake that pit in my stomach when it starts up. Since I'm a sucker for a good melodramatic moment though I keep it in the old iPod....

Anyway, I guess rainy days + too much high school on the brain = Tim McGraw and Nelly

4 comments:

CoCo said...

I remember driving back to Watertown, from a movie with Amber (in Boston, on a chilly night) and listening to this song ... over and over again.

I'm starting to not like the powerful fact that music (namely specific songs) can stir such strong emotions.

CoCo said...

** I didn't specify but my two comments are not related (Amber and strong emotions - just to clarify).

Callie said...

So, I remember getting into my car and flipping through the radio stations just to find one that was playing this song. I. loved. it.

I think I still do.

Sadly, it was one of my jr. high school kids that I put it on a CD for me. Go VJH.

{jane} said...

mmmm, my favorite thing about music is the emotions it stirs.