More on Music and Memory

The other day I am driving down the road with the music playing on the radio. A song comes on that I have not heard in ages. I cannot remember the name of the song as I really never knew the name of it. But the song takes me to another place in time.

It is 1978 once again. I am 12 years old (which of course tells you how old I am now). In my room is a stack of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books. The song I am hearing on my radio is the same one I am hearing in the car in the present. The plot of the Nancy Drew book I am reading fades into focus. She is getting herself into yet another pickle as she tries to follow her sleuthing instincts to solve yet another case.

These books were the answer to my reading problems in earlier years. I believe I read every single Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys book in print. To tell the truth I was more interested in her interactions with her boyfriend, Ned, than how she solved each mystery. The Hardy boys kept my interest as I imagined being one of their girlfriends. But they kept me reading and that was what was important.

As the song on the radio comes to an end I find myself back in 2005 driving down the road. I let out a sigh and laugh that a song I can't even remember takes me to such a place.