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Friday, August 27, 2010

Certain Songs

You know how certain songs take you back to one specific place and time? I frequently have this happen to me.

Like when the song "Where Its At" by Beck comes on....oh good Lord. Every time, I crank it up and jam out....dancing like you wouldn't believe. (Or, if you know me, perhaps you would believe it.) It takes me back to the summer after I graduated from high school and we would frequent the foam night dance parties at Masquerade in downtown Atlanta. Oh, how I love that song.

Or, "American Girl" by Tom Petty. Again, I am instantly transported to the summer after I graduated. I begged my parents to let me travel to Italy to stay with my grandparents' family for a few weeks...by myself...without anyone that spoke English. For some reason, they said yes. And I flew to Milan. By myself. I was picked up at the airport by cousins that I had never met before. I stayed just outside of Milan with various family members for almost a week, where I spoke no Italian and they spoke very little English. I called my father on day 3 and told him that I had to come home. I would never be fluent in English again and would only be able to speak broken English for the rest of my life. I was sobbing. He told me that he would book a flight for me first thing in the morning. And then I cried even harder, explaining that I couldn't leave because that would be rude. You have to love the mind of a teenager. The next day I was a guest speaker (with a microphone!) at the local elementary school and all was well. The following weekend they took me to stay with my grandmother's brother's family in a small little village in Northern Italy. When they left me there, I cried. I was just getting used to the first family. And then I met my cousin, Noemi and I ended up spending a lot of time at her house. She would run a bubble bath for me in the morning along with a breakfast of hot chocolate and biscotti. Noemi introduced me to her friend, Janette, who was Italian, but had grown up in the U.S. Janette had a son a few years older than me and she forced him to take me out to meet his friends. They all spoke English. And by the end of the trip, I never wanted to leave.

I listened to "American Girl" every morning that I was there. It was my theme song.

"Wide Open Spaces" by The Dixie Chicks...you would swear that I was the 4th member of the group.

"Everyday" by Dave Matthews was what I listened to when I would drive back to the hospital to spend the day with the girls after they were born and still in the NICU.

"The River" by Garth Brooks was what I listened to every morning every morning of my student teaching.

"I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters...I am immediately a child again, walking with my cousin, Geralyn, to the carnival at St. Nick's in Chicago.

"Forever Young" by Rod Stewart...I'm standing at the check out line in KMart explaining to my grandmother that even though I like the song a lot, she doesn't have to buy the tape for me.

Now that I've started, I could go on and on about this. But I'll spare you. This time.

1 comment:

In The Pursuit of Education said...

Oh my goodness. I went to foam parties at the Masquerade a bunch of times! There was always a creepy little man with a hose to rinse you off before you left. Yuck!

LOVE LOVE LOVE some "Wide Open Spaces." The only Dixie Chicks song I like even better is "Goodbye Earl." :)

Sarah