What is it about a song to jog the memory?
While driving home from work today, my Spotify playlist decided I should hear A Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran.” And, wow! An avalance of memories I had forgotten I harbored came crashing over me like waves.
Suddenly, so much washed over my memory. First, I remember summers at my dad’s place in Marietta and Sandy Springs, when I competed (poorly) as part of the neighborhood swim team. I was never a gifted swimmer, but I loved the pool.
Second, I remembered riding our Huffy and Schwinn bicycles up and down the hills in the neighborhood to get to the pool, where we spent our summers as boys.
Third, I remembered my friend Mark who lived a few houses down our street, and how we’d camp out in our little tent in the woods adjacent to our street, and call the Domino’s in town to deliver pepperoni pizzas to us on Friday nights. We’d leave our little camp area and go out to the street when the driver arrived with the delicious-smelling pizza we relished as boys.
Fourth, I remember the tunes. O, the music! In those years, it was A Flock of Seagulls, the J. Geils Band, The Tubes, and Van Halen, and so many more. Music, music, music, the pool, the smells of sun tan lotion the girls laved on themselves all day long, the swim meets, the camping in the woods adjacent to our little street.
I had not heard “I Ran” in years, I think–but in an instant, I was a kid again–pedalling our bikes, swimming laps, imbibing the tunes, wrestling with hormones, and just being a boy. Wow . . . just wow!
MIND & MATTERS 