Musical Memories

It’s amazing how a single song can bring back the most vivid memories regardless of how much time has passed. Typically, it’s those years in our twenties, which forever shaped our personality, beliefs, and goals that are marked by a musical cord.

Once in awhile, I’ll be flippen through radio stations in the car and land on song that instantly brings me right to the doorstep of a past experience. If I land on a Lynyrd Skynyrd song, my entire mind shifts back to my early twenties. I lived the majority of my twenties overseas which forever will be bonded with a select group of friends.

Lynyrd Skynyrd used to blare through my speakers of my black little sports car as we drove across the Japanese coast on summer days. 10 or so of us, would rise mid morning on a Saturday to head two hours south to camp on the coast. Japanese beaches are not regulated as most American beaches are. They resemble much of Texas’ South Padre Island, where you can drive right up on the beach settling feet from the shoreline.

My romantic interest and I used follow the pact of cars down in the morning. On the way home, we always took our own route home. A bit slower or faster than the others, just depending on the stops we took or the path. We never had a “goal” or specific outlined direction to take. We just went with how we felt that day.

Even today, years later, I can hear Lynyrd Skynryd and be transplanted back in my old Toyota. Sunroof back, sun glaring in our eyes, music blaring, and the smell of our cigarettes as we drove. It’s memories attached to a certain song, that will never be replaced by the present day. Doesn’t matter how old I get, where I live, car I drive, or whose in the passenger seat, because for those 9 min., I will always be driving in Japan with someone else.