My husband and I were driving in the car together recently with the kids. We were listening to the radio and suddenly The Goo Goo Dolls song Slide came on. We both looked at each other and smiled.
Isn’t it amazing how one song can bring you right back to a specific time and place? How your brain becomes instantly flooded with memories of a moment in your life? I recently was reading Carolyn’s blog and she wrote a post about how music can really establish an emotional connection with us and that’s exactly what I experience with certain songs. No matter how old the song may be, it will bring me right back to that time in my life as if it were just yesterday.
Slide by The Goo Goo Dolls was super popular when I first met my husband. It was one of those songs that we would often hear when we were out together. At the time, I was a full-time elementary school teacher commuting to NYC in the evening to earn my graduate degree. There were many weeks that would go by in which I would only see him for a few hours. My schedule and his schedule were so different and to make matters worse, we didn’t live close to each other. We had to make the best of the limited time we could spend together.
So we would often meet in Northern NJ just right outside the city, usually in a bar or restaurant to grab a few drinks and some food before I headed home. Although this was another “crazy” time in my life, it was so much fun.
I looked forward to leaving class and driving out of the city to see him, even if it was just for a few hours. It didn’t matter that it was a random weekday night and that I had to be up early to teach the next day. I was running on adrenaline and anticipation of seeing him and spending time with him. And I can’t tell you how many times we would listen to The Goo Goo Dolls play in one of the bars.
When I hear that song now it brings me right back to when I was 23…all I have to hear is the beginning of that guitar riff and my mind is instantly filled with wonderful memories of when we first met.
And although my life used to be days filled with absolutely no responsibility of paying a mortgage and raising kids, I still wouldn’t trade anything for my days now which are of a much different kind; filled with my daughter’s “Goo Goo” voice and the actions of my very own two little Dolls.
As crazy as life can sometimes be as a Theta Mom I love my life just where it is…and my Goo Goo Dolls just where they are.
And the songs that play on the radio today will one day bring a smile to my face. Because I will think of my children and remember them just as they are, right now.
I love listening to music that brings me back decades, too!
I feel exactly the same way! You should share the Elmo singing with the Goo Goo Dolls “Pride” song with your kids, it’s a remake of Slide. Very cute and sweet. Oh, here’s a link on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGohKgNOXnU
What a beautiful post. Your kids are just darling!! I totally agree about song lyrical flash backs. I was just talking about that very topic with a friend when a song from the early 1980s had come on. It was totally “a blast from the past”. How cool that you can take those moments and reflect on your present blessings. I think I would have seen it more from a Goo Goo to a Poo Poo (dirty diapers) scenario. LOL. Agree though, never in a million years would I trade it all to go back to those simple care free days. Kids and this grown-up life bring so much to the table
and what an adventure it is!
Cheers!
I love when I get that rush of feelings from an old song. Granted, I’m only 23 right now so going way back like that puts me at like 13 when I had no clue what “good music” really was… but its still fun 😛
Oh, I gave you a brand new award that I made up!
And probably tomorrow or Wednesday I’m going to be posting the answer to the question you asked me.
There is no place like NOW.
That is exactly what I love about music…its ability to bring you right back to a certain moment in time!
What a beautiful post. I am always amazed at how music and also certain smells can bring back memories for me. The photo of your kids is amazingly cute. And thanks also for your sweet comment on my blog today. You really made me feel encouraged. Thank you so much.
Your welcome Organic Motherhood – And thanks ladies for connecting to this post!
Lovely post!! I have songs that remind me of certain things too!! I love it when they just spontaneously come on, can bring the biggest of smiles to my face!!
Heather, a beautifully written post. So true about how a song can bring you back to a time in your life. Our senses have a great way of triggering memories.
I’m so happy you have those priorities – you’ll never get these days back!! You want to know what’s even funnier – when those old songs come back out when your kids are teenagers and you start singing along and they’re like, “How do YOU know that song??” Yeah right – I was there when the real people sang it! Have a great day ~ ♥
OMG Imperfect Housewife – I can see how that will be so weird! Yeah, we were the originals! lol
Following from MBC, FFF. Check out http://www.lifeasparents.com
I love when I hear a song and it brings back memories!
I like it when I hear songs that make me remember being young and carefree!
Stephanie – Young and carefree, yes!!!
great post!
“Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume”. ~Jean de Boufflers
WOW, when I read this post I immediately thought of Particle Man by They Might Be Giants. It took me back to our honeymoon when we changed the words and made up a song about Metro Man – we had a car rental that was a Metro – LOL!
i loove the way a song can bring me right back to a moment in time!
Exactly ladies… a moment in time!
Music always has a way of helping you to relive your youth. I’ve been to several concerts over the past few years and I feel like a teenager (only a whole lot smarter and sure of myself).
Heather, I knew I liked you!! Goo Goo Dolls are one of my favorites…actually went to see them at PNC and it was quite an evening! Now if only we can get tickets to see John Mayer!! Bring back the youth, baby!
so very true, there are so many songs that capture an era for me — for each child I wrote down the lyrics to the song I loved while I was pregnant with them and when we hear it in the car they now chime in with ‘that is my song’ takes you to a happy place. Nice post.
There are definitely songs that take me back, mainly one song in particular that takes me to a dark time in my childhood that I am still trying to overcome. Hopefully one day I will be able to fully put it behind me.
Great song though, I love the Goo Goo Dolls.
So true! Many songs from my past bring me back. It is amazing how our senses work.
Music is big in our house, since my husband is a musician, and I will also remember my boys in years to come from songs on the radio now. Jaylen, 3, is obsessed with Lady Gaga, I know, great role model. He was ecstatic when he saw her on the Grammy’s and he sang along. Both boys sing the ra, ra, oh la, la, ga, ga, etc part of bad romance all the time. I even have a video of Jaylen playing it, well what he thinks is playing it, on the drums in my husband’s studio. He actually get the beat pretty well.
Point is, I am SURE that one day in the future I will hear Lady Gaga and be teleported back to now. Remembering my little guys singing and dancing.
Super sweet post!
Love how a song can “take you back”….the Cardigans…”Love Fool”…. Def Leppard’s “Love Bites” (yes, I went there) oh wow…but also love how those old songs take on new meanings for me today.
Sadly, I don’t even know if I know that song! I completely understand your post though…I cannot hear one single Alanis Morrissette song from Jagged Little Pill without being transported back to my senior year in high school! I also love the song “Song Remembers When” by Trisha Yearwood, which talks about the same premise.
Tami – It is such a good tune, you need to check it out! And Alanis’s Jagged Little Pill was total college for me, brings back such great memories!
I love your little dolls — they’re so cute! I’m a big music fan too. Just a few notes into a song and I’m back in time.
It’s so true. There are so many songs that bring me back to a particular time and place! It’s nice, really.
Before I even read your post – just by reading the words “Goo Goo Dolls” and “Slide” – I was immediately back to my freshman year of college and was therefore having my own experience with the flashback thing! So of course I loved this post, and enjoyed reading about you & your husband’s early days as well.
By the way, I have a tag for you on my blogsite!
Andrea – Isn’t that the best? Those were the days!
This is so true. Music totally plays a part in my life and can zap me back in time in an instant. I love the photo of your Goo Goo dolls . Adorable!!!
It is so crazy how music and smells bring me back to a special place like the smell of lavender always reminds me of my grandmother and when I hear Mr. Jones it reminds me of the year my car radio was broken and I only got one channel on the way to school. They always played that song every morning!
Your GooGoo Dolls are adorable!
Loved this post. It’s amazing how music can bring back memories and transport you to a different time and place.
Sweet post, your kiddos are so cute!!