Do you have that one album, that every time you listen to it, it brings you back to a place where you were incredibly happy? An audio cue of a moment you never want to forget. Songs that make your heart pang of the fond memories now past, of places you wish you could return too, with people you miss dearly.
You associate this place with this album because that's where you were the first time you heard it, you fell in love with it, you were having the time of your life with it playing in the background.
Every time I play it, I find myself back in the car, driving up and down that peninsula, it's raining, we're talking about anything, headed to the beach. We're at the grocery store buying glazed donuts, and whatever is on sale for dinner. We're meeting for lunch during work breaks, and talking about surfing. Everyday headed back to the beach, back in the water, with that album playing in the back of my head.
Listening to it now is heartache, but I just want to return to that time when life was easy, and I was having so much fun. It let's me escape from midterms, labs, and the city, at least just for a moment. I like to think that's alright to do, but I know it's because I'm addicted to that heartache, of wanting something I can't have.
Maybe it's time to put that album back on the shelf and forget it for a while, because living in the past isn't getting me anywhere.