In the restaurant I enjoy everything; the lighting, the meal, the company. I am fully present and in the moment.
Until I hear the background music shift to Matzy Star singing "Fade Into You". Then I am lying in my dorm room listening to the song over and over again with my girlfriends.
Later, on the ride home, I blast music to keep myself alert. Pearl Jam's "Alive" comes on and though I am a 35 year old woman driving along Vista del Mar I feel like my 19 year old self.
I recall a late late fall night at the beginning my sophomore year. I had new roommates and lived in a new building, a few steps from my freshman year housing but really it felt like miles away. Everything felt new and scary and possible all as once. Breaking through the sleepy silence a male student belted "Alive" to his drunken self as he made his way home. Half awake, I remember feeling happy hearing him shout out the song; singing as if no one was listening, singing as if he was Eddie Vedder.
Music brings memories of my early years and they are like sweet visits with an old friend.
