I have been listening to George Strait, Randy Travis and other similar artists and I am suddenly transported like a time machine back to the late 1980s, sitting in the front seat of our dirty salvaged black pickup, the dogs hanging their heads out the camper window and the crackly radio sending out twang. The sweet pine and dust breeze whipping my hair on a hot day (my father didn't believe in air conditioning); towering trees and expansive vistas peeking through the dog-slobbered windows.
Simple memories, non specific, blurring into the category of "childhood" yet important nevertheless. Country music, the truck, and nature all intertwine as a common thread in my childhood. These are not the type of memory you could take a photo of and hang on your wall. Rather, these memories are like a common thread in a tapestry; when you look at the woven image you see a specific vivid memory but it is these background memories that are the threads that bind the beautiful memory together. Without them, the image falls apart.
Love those things that evoke good "memory feelings," they're the best! For me, it's the smell of racing fuel. Always takes me back to smothering summer heat and special time with my daddy :)
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to country lately too, and it IS weird of me! I never chose to listen to country on my own, though I'd listen to it a lot with my father. Now when I listen to country, I, too, am taken back. Not to cool sounding country days like you, but days of driving around town with my dad. :)
ReplyDeleteI love how music helps us access long-gone phases of our lives!
ReplyDeleteI love how you wrote this! Really great!
ReplyDeleteCountry music is the best- glad you are embracing it!
ReplyDeleteOne of the best things about country music is the memories they hold.
ReplyDeleteCountry is among my favourite genres.
ReplyDeleteSo true how something like the music can hold memories together--and country does tend to have something about it that does that. Your memories are sharp and full of details that bring them to life. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteMusic always does this to me. I can't hear Chicago without transporting back to middle school. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI like the way you describe that blur of memories.
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