A Nostalgia Trip

This post is dedicated to my childhood friends and to the summer of 2017. 

Yesterday, I was sitting with my little sister, Lydia and one of my life-long friends, Saylor, having lunch at our favorite local place. We sat in the covered area of the outdoor restaurant, surrounded by hippie products and knick knacks, with the cool, balmy air of a May day in the Panhandle blowing through. Music coming through speakers joins in with the clanking of dishes and the "We've got fish tacos walking in" of the kitchen, the laughter and conversation of the people scattered around the decks, sharing picnic tables or walking through the shop, and the distant hum of traffic. On any given day, the speakers will be playing anything from Bob Marley's smooth reggae and Fleetwood Mac's folk rock harmonies to Train's upbeat, gets-stuck-in-your-head tunes and Bob Dylan's crooning songs of protest. Yesterday, we had just finished singing along to one of Elton John's classics when another song came on: "Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti & Spearhead, and I  was gone. 

I looked over at Lydia with what I'm sure were eyes glazed over and she grabbed my arm, jokingly saying "Come on Emma, it's okay, it's fine, don't lose it..." because she knows that every time I  hear this song I kinda freak out. Music is funny like that. It can transport you to memories like nothing else can and for a moment, it carries me away and I'm back in 2017. 

It's mid-morning, the sun just now covering everything. My little silver FJ Cruiser is heading down the highway, over a bay, towards Mobile, AL. It's been going since before dawn, when a bunch of sleepy teenagers piled into it to go on an adventure together. It was the first time I had taken my truck on an actual road trip with my friends and I was so excited! We had started out delirious from the early start, which only fueled the hysterical laughter and singing at the top of our lungs. I mean the windows down, acting as lead, guitar solo and drums, grabbing hands to add drama kind of singing. A lot was belted on that drive, from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" to Twenty One Pilots' "Ride". The one that sticks with me though, that still has the power to snatch me away from my present and bring me to my truck in 2017, is "Say Hey." We played it back to back, getting the words down one time, our clapping the next. There was dancing in the backseat, crooning in the passenger seat, and a finger dancing/wiggle mashup from me. All in all, we played that song probably 8 times and somehow had more fun with each go around. It remained the anthem of our friend group through the summer of 2017. 

Now, three years later, that group of childhood friends has disbanded and gone their separate ways, as is the way of life. It's weird, to be almost 20 and realize that the ones you stood alongside as a kid and thought would be there all the time aren't around anymore. Nostalgia can hit me in the gut sometimes when I think about that summer, full of Chick Fil A trips, beach days that lasted until we couldn't hold anymore sunshine, walks around out favorite places, and a LOT of card games. Nostalgia is a tricky friend, it's wonderful to have as a reminder of the memories you've made with people you love. But it can also make you slip too far into wishing things would return to how they were in the dog days of summer in the Panhandle, when you were the "mom" of a group of childhood buddies and every day was an adventure. 

To everyone reading this, I encourage you to let nostalgia in, filling you with feelings connected to a song, a scent, a place... but to remember that where you are is where you're meant to be and that life, no matter what it looks like, is worth being celebrated and soaked up. So whenever you hear that song that transports you to that memory, go. Just don't stay there. 

- Em    

https://open.spotify.com/track/0nnxf8p851ZR49KFnGWVsB?si=lCc6yJGCQViZ1j2OyxHJTg