The great power of nostalgia
My daughter and I were listening to the radio, when the prerecorded radio show commercial butted in to say, “We only play NEW music.”
And I thought, How strange. Because there’s a lot of good music in the world. And older music is better. I like new music, but I don’t mind mixing it up with some Indigo Girls, Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, or Joni Mitchell. The melodies are packed with bright days in the Florida sun, the smell of salt water, and the rumble of constant waves. The notes transport me to riding in a car with friends (with no grown up in sight), moving to new towns, and knowing that my life was full of possibilities. They remind me of beautiful sunrises over the ocean and nights of fishing on rocky cliffs.
Back then, I wasn’t worried about how to pay the bills or if we would ever have enough money for retirement. I didn’t worry if 90 days of 90-degree weather was about global warming. Even my sense of humor was different back then. I was funnier and smarter. There was an edge, but more creativity and playfulness. The music reminded me that it was all blurry joy back in the day.
