If I Could Turn Back Time

So there I was tonight, working in my garage listening to the 80’s station. Peter Gabriel, Cinderella, Bruce Springsteen, Heart, I love them all!

And then my ever churning brain was ever churning, and thinking. And churning. And more thinking. The question that lingered in my mind was, “why did I love 80’s music so much?”

As I continued to work, doing my thing, I started paying attention to some of the songs. No. I started paying attention to the way the songs made me feel. They brought me back to a place in my life where I was too young to be old but old enough to remember.

Have you ever had a bad-memory-moment and a song sparks those same feelings?

Yes, me too.

Do you suddenly change the station, forward to the next song or just simply turn the music off?

Happens more often than I like.

The only problem for me is, sometimes I really like those songs.

A few years back, I don’t remember exactly when, but a few years back a song came on and I remember the feeling I had.

It was not good.

But I didn’t change the station. I sat and listened to the whole song. Once it was over I said to myself, “Self. Why are you going to let a shitty person, shitty situation or shitty time in your life ruin a perfectly wonderful song?”

It was that day that I reclaimed my music!

Fast forward to this evening, where the 80’s songs were flowing like a river. It took me back in time. I was young and living at home with my grandparents.

Fashion wasn’t really my thing but I tried. Only 4 channels on our TV and no VCR (emphasis on the ‘no’). I was isolated from the big world beyond our little town most of the year, other than when we journeyed back home, or took the bus to The Victory Theatre to watch the latest movie (PG – AA only, no R-rated), or venturing to the the carnival for the day.

I can hear my Grandmother shuffling about the house in her slippers. And I can still hear my Grandmother and my Grandfather calling for me at 8:00pm because it was time for me to come home.

I remember wanting to explore and know more about life beyond the ‘gates’. And now, I would do anything to turn back the clock and be there snuggling up in my bed with my dolls and stuffed toys and waking up to what I thought at the time was a bit of a lonely childhood.

Now I see that I was given a gift.

And I can still smell, hear, and see the surroundings, my house and the safety of it all. So when I hear that 80’s sound, as both corny and groundbreaking at the time, it really truly does bring me back.

Is this what happens when you get old?