The box of photographs in your mind

You never quite know which event, sound, thought, smell will be captured by your mind and placed into the box of photographs living inside your head. The other day on youtube I stumbled upon an old music video. Seeing the images triggered an opening of my photo box and I was transported back to 1989 in the living room/dining room of my small condo. It was a crazy day – I was stressed out from too much work, and volumes of homework from my night school class (Systems Engineering with models solved by differential equations – I get tired just thinking about it). Papers were strewn about the kitchen table. My brain and my house were both a big mess.

The TV was blabbing at nothing, tuned to VH1 just to have some music in the background. Something new came on – lots of cool guitar strumming. My head just sort of lifted from my textbook and I was glued to the TV watching two women playing the heck out of their guitars, singing a folkie but energetic song. I was mesmerized throughout the whole thing. Those women were singers/songwriters who knew how to proudly wear boots, t-shirts, and jeans with ripped out knees. They were talented and confident, slightly younger than I but seemingly more full of life and in charge of their destiny. Through that music I felt strong, happy and in charge. Indeed, a burden was lifted off of me for the rest of the day.

I bought their CD that week and now have quite a bit of their music. It has been nearly 20 years and they just released another (their 11th?) CD. They are still great, still singing tight harmonies and pulling a zillion notes out of their guitars.

To this day, whenever I hear “Closer to Fine” it makes me feel like an invincible 28 year old. It seems like someone placed the video on youtube just so I would have an excuse to open my photo box and pull out a simple, wonderful memory. Thanks, Indigo Girls. “The best thing you’ve ever done for me, was help me take my life less seriously. It’s only life, after all.”