That One Summer

Hi readers, 

Wooh!  It's been a while since our last chat.  *looks at date on last post*  Ok, so it's been QUITE a while.  I've been busy with normal 20-something stuff, like going on adventures with friends (can you say "beach trips"?!), interning (can you say "unpaid"?!), family events like reunions, binge watching netflix and youtube, and sleeping.  I suppose I could have thrown in a post here and there but the whole point of this blog of mine in particular was to post when inspiration hit. 

*pow*

Here it is.

So I was listening to my songs on iTunes (on shuffle of course, is there another way to do it?) and a certain song came on.  It was Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová; the special version from Bath & Bodyworks' P.S. I Love You CD. (Don't ask. Okay, it was special edition that I got because I know people.)  Anyways, this CD in particular is one of my favorite CDs that I own.  It is all love songs from various artists and it is ridiculously soothing to listen to.

P.S. I Love You track list:
1::I Still Ain't Over You - Augustana::
2::Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová::
3::Closer To Love - Matt Kearney::
4::Fit Of Love - Ciara::
5:: You Don't Know Me -  Ben Folds Feat. Regina Spektor::
6::Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop - Landon Pigg::
7::Shelter - Ray LaMontagne
8::Bad Habit - Destiny's Child::
9::Follow Through - Gavin DeGraw::
10::The Show - Lenka::

One summer in particular I completely thrived off listening to this CD at night before bed.  Typically though that would last through till the morning because I stayed up many of those nights listening to that CD and reading.  It was summertime after all and I was in high school, why would I need sleep?  

The reason I am bringing this up is because I am fascinated with sensory memory, particularly in this case with Echoic Memory.  In layman's terms that means memories that are brought about by a certain sound (this really can occur with most of our other senses too like sight and smell etc.)   So, whenever I hear the songs from this CD I am reminded of the moments in which I listened to them the most, which for me is when I was in my room that Summer reading all night.  But that's not all.  I wasn't reading just any books, I was reading one of my favorite series of books from my favorite author, Ted Dekker.  I was reading through the Paradise Novels (Showdown, Saint, and Sinner).  So when I hear this CD those moments I remember pinpoint to me reading those books in particular (and eating cheese and Triscuit crackers paired with grape juice which I pretended was wine).  They have become an inseparable matching set in my mind.  It works both ways too, when I think of Showdown or any of the moments in that book, or of the main characters Johnny, Samuel or Marsuvees Black somewhere in the back of my mind Falling Slowly or The Show by Lenka starts playing.  I think that is one of my favorite things about the human mind, how it's capable of making connections like that.  Connections.  I love connections, that's why Ted Dekker is my favorite author. That's a whole other post for me, though.  

I think I'm going to wrap this one up by the way and just ask you to ponder through what some of your favorite books and CDs are.  And I highly encourage you to go back and read them, or pop that CD in and listen to it and reminisce.  It is Summer after all.

-XO Juls