I'm back... again!
I know, I am terrible about being consistent with my posts. I promise to try and do better. These 17 days of silence were brought to you by settling into the new house and writer's block! Anyway, the creative wheels are turning once again and I'm ready to get back to it!
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When I was younger, I remember my parents only playing music from the 70s through the early 90s. I wondered why they weren't playing anything current, and whenever I would ask, they would say something along the lines of "the music was better back then" or "this is the music I grew up with". I also remember my mom wanting to show me some of her favorite movies from the 80s. It wasn't until I graduated college and moved out that I truly realized what was going on. They were being nostalgic and reliving the "good ol' days".
I find myself being nostalgic a lot these days for some reason . My body may be in 2022, but my mind likes to frequently look back on the years 2008-2014. Those years are significant because that was when I was in junior high and high school. That time period helped start the mold that shaped me into the person I am today, provided me with a core group of friends that I still have to this very day, and gave me memories that will last a life time.
I have a lot of great memories from junior high and high school. I loved band. I started in 6th grade and went all the way through graduation. Plus, all my friends did band so that helped make it fun. Marching band season was one of my favorite times of the year, no matter how much we complained about it at times. We got our first taste at marching band on Junior High Night, so when freshman year rolled around we were so ready. Our band director at that time knew what he was doing and made football season fun. We may not have liked him sometimes, but I would say we respected him. Our band was known for being fedora wearing dancers and we owned that title with pride. I played the flute and my calling card was dropping my flute down the bleachers and somehow having it survive with minimal damage. And bus rides to away games were great, as long as you signed up for the right bus at the beginning of the year. I have a lot of band bus stories, but I could dedicate a whole post to those. The only time I didn't like marching band was my senior year, but that was because we had a new director who was changing how we operated and a lot of us weren't very open to that change. Luckily, we only had to endure that for one year.
Sports were also a big part of my life back then as I was a three sport athlete for all those years. My two main sports were basketball in the winter and track in the spring. I played volleyball from seventh grade through sophomore year, but then my friend and I jumped ship and joined the cross country team our junior year. And let me tell you, that was the best decision I probably ever made. That year, our school hired a new cross country coach and there were a lot of new runners who joined. I remember two people who joined the team and I made the joke that they only joined to get out of band camp. But the new runners and the veteran runners all blended well together and got along with each other, and that doesn't happen a lot. It was without a doubt one of the best teams I have been on. Team dinners were the best part of the week and meets were always fun, aside from the fact that we had to run 3.1 miles. Our inside jokes were the best and the team campout at the end of the season was blast. Plus I was in the greatest shape of my life.
Lastly, dances were so much fun. In junior high, I remember the dances being in the basement of an old church that our school shared a parking lot with. The dances were always immediately after school and were only like 2 hours. You were also able to buy pop cans and little bags of candy. Yes they were awkward at times, but they were fun, too, especially when our Spanish teacher would join in during the line dances. In high school, for homecomings and prom, my friends and I would rotate whose house we got ready at and we made a whole event out of it. Once we left for the dance, all of our parents would hang out for the night and it was amazing. Between my mom and my friend's mom, we always had a van big enough to take us all to the dance. Sure, we had people sitting on laps and in trunks, but we made it safe and sound! I remember one year, we took my family's van, but the adults forgot they left a case of beer that they bought earlier in the evening in the back seat. We didn't realize it until we got to the school, so the group of dads had to drive to the school and take the case out of the van without anyone knowing. Also, it wasn't school dance prep if you didn't get burned by the curling iron. My one friend got burned behind her ear and I accidentally grabbed the hot barrel of the curling iron and destroyed my hand. But hey, what's a fun evening without a little pain?
When it comes to entertainment, movies and music from the early to mid 2000s hold a special place in my heart. For example, when I listen to the album Pink Friday by Nicki Minaj, I am transported back to a school bus on my way to a track meet/invitational while eating a now discontinued Snicker's protein bar. When I watch The Cheetah Girls or The Princess Diaries, I am taken back to junk food nights with my best friend at her house. Hell, at my wedding that friend and I rocked out to Cinderella because that is our song. And as I've mentioned before, my favorite movies are The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Coyote Ugly (2000), and Mamma Mia (2008) and my top playlist is 2000s pop and country (Y2K for the win!). And I will die on this hill; Nickelback is awesome!
Lastly, I just enjoyed how simple and stress free everything was when we were younger. I would give anything to just have elementary school worries! Our biggest concerns back there were who we were whose class you were in that year, who you were sitting with at lunch, who had a crush on who, and doing whatever you could to not get in trouble and pull a car. Speaking of elementary school, can we all agree that the best day ever was the last day of school before Christmas break? Nothing will ever beat the end of the year Christmas party with cookies, pizza and pop, wearing our pajamas to school, watching The Polar Express, and just doing nothing educational. I wish Christmas time still felt like sometimes. It was truly magical.
Let's face it, growing up sucks sometimes. But it is important and healthy for us to grow up and become older and wiser than we once were. However, when life does get too stressful and hard, the State of Nostalgia will always be there to greet us with open arms. Just remember to come back to the present, because that is where you are meant to be.
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