During my birthday week, I got a unexpected retro bonus: Seth had cleaned out a drawer in our TV armoire, and handed two discs over to me: a CD of old photos, and a CD of old music.
On my birthday, I stuck the photo CD in. I had no idea what was on it. Oh my hell, what a gold mine of memories, spanning the years. Photos of my first, second, third and thirtieth birthdays. Old, beloved Ultimate Frisbee teams. Random photos of drinking on someone's back porch. A whole series of rodeo princess photos. (Yes, I was a rodeo princess. That is another entry, another universe for another time.) Photos, from all different time of my life, all different phases, friends, moods.
A few days later, I stuck in the music CD. My friend Canton had burned it for me. It was actually an MP3 of a birthday mix tape that I'd made for him 20 years ago. Holy fuck, did I count that right? Yes, I did. It was Canton's 18th birthday, which came just a few weeks after mine, so yes, that was 20 years ago. I've actually had the CD for awhile --Canton sent it to me sometime last year, and it got tossed in that drawer, not listened to. I was a little afraid to listen to it, afraid of what angsty teen rabbit hole that music might lead me down. It was much better than I expected. I must have been in a lighter mood when I made that tape. Also, it was for Canton, who was (has always been) one of the suns in my life.
Those two things brought me an unexpected amount of plain old feelgood. Rediscovering these old, beautiful things, and the floods of memories and warm feelings of friendship that came along with them. And then, I shared them again. Facebook, Flickr. Put them back out there, back to the world. Reconnect in the rearview mirror, feel the love reflect back.
BONUS FEATURE: A Day In The Life. My high school, circa 1990-91. Again, courtesy of Canton, who was technogeeky way back when, who keeps this stuff, and brings it all up to date. I am amazed at how young and shining and good looking we all are, back when we didn't think we were. And how we could have all walked right out of a John Hughes movie. Life, art, life, art.
OMG...I just watched the whole video and it IS like a John Hughes movie!
Posted by: IzzyMom | Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 02:00 PM