A Song is a Memory

 For those of you who went to High School in the 1990's and 2000-2005 era, you'll likely remember how awesome it was to make burnt cds!!  How cool was it to put all of your favorite songs onto one cd and share your songs with all of your friends?  

Almost everyone I knew had huge cd cases, similar to these in their cars. It was always the passenger's responsibility to never let the tunes run out, but continually feed the cd changer.

Can you believe that people used to break into cars to steal these enormous things?!? 

Well, today I realized that I hardly ever listen to cds anymore and yet, I have them all over my house...  tucked here and there in random cases and taking up my space on bookshelves. So, I decided it was time to purge through all of them and get rid of those ones that I'll definitely never listen to again.  

Little did I know how much fun this would actually be! 

What followed was a two hour walk down memory lane. 

I got out my old running walkman that my Mom bought me my freshman year of college and reflected on the day I got it.  We were at Target and I remember I thought it was totally awesome: bass options, no skip technology, and a hand strap that tucked it right in my hand while I was running. I told my Mom that if she would buy it for me, she would never have to buy me another walkman again because this one was the ultimate music playing device! 

...and it was the last walkman she ever bought me because the ipod came out just a few years later! 

 One by one, I stuck my old burnt cds from high school and college into my walkman to see what was on them.  It was amazing the memories that flooded back to me with each and every song.

High school dances

Stake dances

House dance parties in college

Driving around with my friends in the car

Pool parties

Spring break trips with my Mom and Sister

The high school locker room before a big game

Old boyfriends & the hurt of the goodbyes

It was like I was there again and something inside of me said, "You can't just throw away these cds! They're your past! They're your memories!"

Then, I thought, "OK so lets say I do keep these."  When would I listen to them? At home? I could only do that when Joe's not here because it has to be quiet for him to study.  In the car? Well, I live in a town where you're to wherever it was that you were going before you even have time to listen to one full song. 

I KNOW! I'll throw a 90's Dance party with all our friends for one last hoorah and then throw them away! No, no... Most of my friends have young kids and seeing their parents jump around in the dark would likely scare them for life. 

Sigh.

So, I decided to throw away what was probably an entire case of new cds at one point.

And I sadly concluded, "I'm too old for this kind of music anymore anyways." 

I don't go to dances, I'm the chaperon at them.

I don't drive around in the car with my friends just to drive around anymore. And I would probably feel silly pulling up somewhere with my Usher, Wycleff, Snoop, Nelly, or Blink 182 tunes bumping.

I used to love hip hop, punk, and R&B! I've seriously tried to say goodbye to Nelly and Usher before, but I just couldn't do it.  I had to keep them, but I think it was because I used to be able to relate to the lyrics a lot more than I do now.  Have you ever noticed how 80% of songs talk about relationships? You can find the perfect song for every aspect, stage, and part of a relationship. So I liked them when I was on that dating rollercoaster. 

One of my break up songs was "Let it Burn" by Usher.  I listened to that song so many times during one of the hardest break ups I ever had.  When it came on my walkman the other day, I had to listen to the whole thing. 

Man, the painful emotions that I felt before all came back to me and then I looked over at an engagement photo of Joe and I on our wall and thought, "There was a time when I thought I would never ever find you." 

Music is so powerful. 

It moves us.

It makes us feel alive.

It can bring back memories in just the first 3 notes of a song.

In the end, I didn't throw away all of my cds, cause my parent's record collection is kind of cool and I know my kids will want to see what my walkman and cds looks like someday.  

And my car does have a 6 cd changer if I ever go on a road trip! :)