I mentioned in my post “A little more about the mission…” that i believe music is closely related to memory. I was thinking the other day about how certain albums in my collection remind me of past relationships and i thought i would share them with you (within reason, this is the Internet so I’m not gonna get too personal…)
- 1. Christina —— Albums: Cries of the Past by Underoath and The Changing of Times by Underoath.
Christina was my first girlfriend. We dated for a few months late freshman year, or perhaps the summer after freshman year. These two albums in particular bring up memories of that period of my life.
This was a really weird time in my life. I had just transferred from christian middle school to a public high school. My closest friends were my friend Tim from my church youth group and my friend Kevin from my old school. Kevin and his older brother introduced me to underoath and i really got into them and that kind of heavy music at the time. Then in high school i met my friend Andrew and he downloaded these to underoath albums and burned one for me and i had him burn me a mix for Christina.
- 2. Jamii —— Album: About a Burning Fire – Blindside
Jamii was my second girlfriend. We dated from winter to spring of my sophomore year of high school. During the previous year of high school Blindside had become my favorite band and I anxiously awaited the releases of this album for months, on that day in February when it finally came out i remember Jamii’s Dad driving me and her to Best Buy so that i could get the album. Later that year i used the song “Eye of the Storm” off this album to make the first video i ever produced myself. That year of my life was the one that set the course for what i would later choose as a career. I was in a Mass Media class in which we produced three videos, a commercial, a fake news segment, and a music video. I used the blindside song as the song for my music video and had my friends Matt, Clare, Tim and Josh act in it for me. For my first production ever i thought it turned out really good. 
Anyway, that class sparked an interest in me. The next year i signed up for a class in which we would put on the news for the school everyday via video production. i took that class for the next two years and i think it was what i enjoyed most about high school. When i had to try and pick a major for college, TV production sounded great because i would get to do the same stuff i enjoyed in high school for a living, and that’s how i ended up at Ferris State University.
- 3. Christine (not Christina — this is a different girl, lol.) —— Albums: I am Hollywood by He is Legend and Mmhmm by Relient K
Christine was my third girlfriend and my first semi-serious one. She was a really sweet girl. We dated for about 7 months during my junior year of high school. These two albums remind me of that time because they both have to do with birthdays… hers and mine. I got her mmhmm by Relient K for her birthday because Relient k was her favorite band at the time. Then when it came time for my birthday she ordered I am Hollywood of the Internet for me because i couldn’t find it in any stores.
- 4. Katie —— Albums: Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest by As Cities Burn and How to Live With a Curse by Stavesacre
Katie was my fourth girlfriend but i consider her my first serious girlfriend. We dated from the summer before my senior year of high school to the fall of my freshman year of college. There are way to many albums that remind me of that year and three months of my life so i picked two that some things up well (again without getting too personal). Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest came out that summer and i remember cruising around listening to it with her. More specifically i remember listening to it as we drove to the place where i then asked her out. Our youth group (well, my youth group at the time) was remodeling their building so they were having Wednesday night meetings at another church. i asked her out in front of that church before a meeting one night. I was kind of a big dork, but she said yes… That was the beginning of our relationship. The other album sums up not quite the end of the relationship but the point at which things started to go downhill. Don’t get me wrong, i loved her until the day we broke up (may a bit longer…) but looking back now i can see where things started to go wrong.
Stavesacre’s album came out in may. May was ugly in a lot of ways… The first a can’t share with you but let’s just say that something big happened. About a week before that happened i was hanging out with Katie and her dog Echo got really sick. She had to be put down. I went with her and her family to the vet and was there with Katie holding Echo’s paw as they put her to sleep. It was a very sad day and it is even now hard to think about. I stayed with her as long as i could but she just wanted to spend the night with her family. I was crushed that i could do nothing to comfort her. That just happend to be the same day i had gone to Tree of Life, our local christian bookstore, to pick up my special order copy of Stavesacre’s new album. I remember driving to youth group early, it was a wednesday, and sitting in my car and listening to the album a couple of times and thinking about that crappy day. I think the music made me feel better… That is a memory that still rears it’s head every once and awhile when i pop that album into my stereo but thankfully i can still enjoy that album. It’s bittersweet.
Those are the albums that stir up memories of my past relationships… i hope that the only albums i add to this list will be the ones that remind me of my future wife. After Katie i realized i had been going about dating kind of the wrong way and i made a commitment before God to take a break from dating until my junior year of college. Well, that is quickly approaching but i am not going to dive back into the mode of always seeking someone to be my girlfriend. i am only going to get into a relationship again after a lot of praying and hopefully that girl will be the one i spend the rest of my life with.
