A project I have embarked on the fast few days was transferring all of my files from my old laptop and my back up drive to my current computer, organizing them (and most importantly deleting all kinds of duplicates), and them re-backing up the new set of ALL of my files. It has been quite the project, but I finally managed to complete it. One of the most delightful parts of this process has been re-discovering my music library. Since I now subscribe to Spotify, I have had no need to listen to my actual music files, but 10 years ago, I had (and still apparently have), an extensive music collection, over 5000 songs, or about 250 hours worth of music, that I had totally forgotten about and neglected.
Certain songs I "re-discovered" brought me right back to very distinct memories of when I used to listen to them. Music has always had this distinct ability to connect me to memories.
The most recent example of this were the songs "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes and "Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens (or more accurately, the entire albums those songs are on). I was a 2010 Census Worker and I was in my car a lot, driving around collecting people's information for the census. At that time, a friend has just given me a bunch of his CDs to rip, including Sufjan Stevens and Fleet Foxes, which I uploaded to my phone and listened to on repeat in my car while census taking. These songs bring me right back to the car on a warm sunny day knocking on doors, meeting strangers, feeling independent (I had just recently broken up with my fiancé at the time) and strong and hopeful for the future. It amazes me how viscerally the music invokes these memories. I am delighted to have "found" this music, and I look forward to rediscovering more of my collection, and experiencing all the accompanying memories attached to it.
With delight,
♥Jamie
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