Memories...

So I know that music can have a very powerful emotional pull...I was a music major and have way too many music memories to count. I was importing some unearthed CDs tonight and one of them happened to be Don't Tread on Me by Damn Yankees. Wow, talk about a time warp...this shoots me straight back to Fall 1992.
I was in a new relationship with the "guy next door", who taught me the allure of hair bands and the basics of football, among other things. We also shared a love of 70's rock (from our older sibs) and Looney Tunes. I know, not really great building blocks for a relationship. Whatever. ANYWAY, this album had just been released and I was listening to it ad nauseum while driving 9 hours north (through my absolute favorite part of Michigan, along the lakeshore on US 2) to visit this guy at college. I could still feel the excited butterflies in my stomach and the *ahem* aching in my loins when I listened to these songs tonight. I could feel the wind in my hair and see the sun dipping lower towards the horizon as I raced along. I could almost, almost feel myself beside him in the car while we drove further north to see the blazing fall colors that weekend--my hand on his knee, watching his profile as he drove. I could feel myself age backwards, to a time where I had no worries other than making sure I made it to class, pretending to be interested in music theory and sociology (yuck), and deciding what underwear to take on my romantic excursion north. I was so incredibly in love with this guy, more than I had ever been up to that point.
Listening to those songs tonight and being transported back in time was so...beautiful that it bordered on painful. I guess maybe part of it is grieving for my youth and for innocence. In so many ways.