I think perhaps the best way to remember how I felt at a time is to go back and listen to an album I played frequently back then.
If I switch on Coldplay's Prospekt's March, I am suddenly in the back seat of my parent's sun warmed car, driving through rural Alberta to the Catholic Family Life Conference back in '08. All the feelings I had then are there, the anticipation of the conference, the anxiety at what it would be like, the sleepiness that I always follows me on roadtrips.
Jack Conte's VS4, and I'm right back in last summer, reading Terry Pratchett in the beautiful sunshine, swinging on a patio swing. Happiness and melancholy and a sense of calm all blurred together.
And, embarrassingly enough, even Avril Lavigne brings back memories. I was obsessed with one of her songs, "Hot" (terrible song in retrospect) and I can remember exactly what the book I was reading was like, and that smug happiness you get when you have just started a good book and you have the whole thing ahead of you.
The "Avril Lavigne Age" is one of the ages I'm most ashamed of, but remembering that helps me to realize what it was really like for me back then, and I understand myself a whole lot more.
Somehow this seems to be the truest way for me to remember years past, not the solid events, but in a snapshot, remembering more how I felt than what exactly I did, what I thought.
For, if we can relate to our past selves, then surely we can learn from them, and that's really my goal in life, to
Never.
Stop.
Learning.
Fabulous post! I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes a song, or a sound, or a smell takes you right back.
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ReplyDeleteLove this post! I have a similar experience with songs/smells although I don't have the song>book sensory experience as I have never been able to listen to music while reading, unless it is very soft and in the background. Even then it can't be too familiar or I can't focus on the book and just start listening to the music. I also LOVE your last three words.
ReplyDeleteYup, so true. On every big road trip we do, we compile a sound track of new-to-us tunes, and listen to it when experiencing new places. Those songs bring back amazing details I thought were forgotten.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Great post! I find it works well with re-reading books too: open a book, and you're suddenly a fantasy-obsessed twelve-year-old who is determined to categorize everything she reads.
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