As I was driving to my Pilates class tonight, I was listening to my MP3 player, which is never not on in my car, and I had a playlist going that I had put together many months ago. There were old and (somewhat) newer songs I had added to this list, but a lot of them were from the early to mid 80's.
As I sat there listening to one song in particular, I was flooded with memories of my very first apartment that I shared with my friend, Jan. We moved out together and excitedly picked somewhere away from our home town that was, at the time, very small, and very agricultural. We chose the 'big city' of Citrus Heights. We thought we were so lucky to be going to this large metropolitan area, where there were people we actually didn't know!
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have always been a lover of music. It has helped me through every part of my life; good and bad. Even as a very young girl, I loved music probably more than just about anything else. So when my friend Jan and I moved into our new apartment in our new neighborhood, I was ecstatic that I had TWO record stores within a mile of our apartment. Holy cow! Not just ONE, but TWO!
I could spend HOURS in a record store. Even as a young girl, when my parents would go to our local White Front store (for those of you who remember that wonderful arena of anything and everything you would need in ONE store; I'd like to think of it as the 70's version of the giant Wal Mart's they have now), I would tell them that "I'll be in the record section". These were the days when a young kid could go off to one area of a store and there wasn't that fear of the child being taken away.
Anyway, I'd go off and scan those albums and 45 RPM's forever. I was usually lucky enough to be able to buy ONE 45RPM single; they were well under a dollar back then. But I would go through each and every record, making sure I wasn't missing anything that I might want more than the one I had chosen.
For my 8th birthday, my mom let me pick any album I wanted while we were at White Front, and I chose Chicago's, 'Chicago VII'. I was thrilled!! I'd get to listen to "Wishing You Were Here" any time I wanted!
When Jan and I moved out to Citrus Heights, I had both a Tower Records and a Record Factory very close to our place. We worked retail, so we really didn't have any money, but I could go into these stores and look for at least an hour and not have to bring home anything; although I usually did...broke or not. :)
While driving to my Pilates class tonight, the song "Back on the Chain Gang" by The Pretenders came on. How I loved that song. It came out while I was in high school, but for whatever reason, when I hear it, I think of the Tower Records in Citrus Heights (better known as the "Sunrise area") and shopping there when I was living in my apartment. I recall buying the single there, so that could be it.
It brought back such a warm feeling and it put a smile on my face and in my heart, which were both feeling pretty low this week after losing a kitten. It made me realize that my most favorite, happy memories come from music. A song can take you back to familiar places and times that made you happy. Sure, a song can bring back memories that were painful too, but those times are part of our lives and they should remain just as special.
When I hear music from the early 70's, I think of summer days and nights growing up in a small town and swimming in our pool, or spending time with friends and family. When I hear music from the late 70's and early 80's, I think of my time in Junior High and High School, being pathetically boy-crazy (although my mom would probably suggest that I popped out of her that way) and cruising downtown on weekend nights, being with friends and living it up.
When I hear songs from the mid 80's, I think of my time of living on my own (with and without a roommate) and getting to know myself as my own best friend; learning how life worked, how sometimes relationships didn't, and getting my first salaried job. It was all so new to me and I look back on it all very fondly.
When I hear songs from the late 80's, up to the mid 90's, I think of my new life as a wife, a homeowner, an individual with a history behind her. A 'mom' to many pets that I will cherish forever. I remember taking dance lessons and going to school, working many different jobs because I never seem to be able to stay in one spot for long without getting restless. I remember a lot of new friends as well as hanging out with old friends from my high school days; taking weekend trips--the 'Girls Weekends', and laughing about things that only a group of women can laugh about.
All of these memories come to light through music. I thought about so much on such a short drive into my class tonight, but it felt like a lifetime of memories had flooded back to me; and I realized that my life has been pretty damn good. I have lived a life with memories that I will cherish forever. And now we have social networks like Facebook, Google Plus and more to bring a lot of friends and family that we may normally not get to connect with, together with us again; to share more memories and to make more music, together.
Yep, life is good. Music is everything.
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