‘N Sync Christmas

Isn’t it weird how a certain smell can make us remember something so vividly from years before? There’s this one Bath & Body Works lotion that, whenever I smell it, makes me think of the first time I was in Utah as a little kid (probably about 7 years old). We had been up in the canyon and playing in the river with some other families. I smelled like the water at the end of that day and so I put on this new lotion I had gotten in Salt Lake (it had sparkles in it) to try and mask the smell. That strawberry lotion will forever make me remember that summer day.

T.J. wore oldspice deoderant occasionally when we were dating and I finally had to tell him he couldn’t wear it again because an old boyfriend of mine wore that same scent and it immediately brought back all those memories. It’s just amazing to me though that such a small thing can trigger such a powerful memory.

And it’s not just smells. Sometimes I’ll hear a certain song and it brings me back instantly to a certain time in my life. Here are some examples, I’ll spare you all the details:

• Here Without You: 9th Grade, Halloween
• I Think I’ll Go to Boston: Senior Year, Prom
• Girlfriend by N’Sync: 8th Grade, driving to a haunted house with some friends

I could seriously go on and on. It’s ridiculous and really awesome how our brain connects those songs to certain memories when we listened to the songs long ago. Is any of this even making sense or am I just rambling?

The reason I  wrote this post is because tonight, T.J. went to see Catching Fire and so Eva and I had a little girls night. I turned on my ‘N Sync Christmas album and we sang and danced to all of the songs. It was perfect. And then I vividly remembered when I got the CD on Christmas Day (probably in 5th grade) and as soon as I opened it up, I put it in my boombox, and started making up a dance to this song:

I can see it in my head so perfectly. I was in my brother’s room by the bunk bed doing lots of awesome moves. And then it hit me tonight… WHERE DID TIME GO!?! I was JUST making up corny dances to ‘N Sync songs back in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, as a 9 year old and now I’m dancing in my apartment in Jersey City with my toddler. Crazy. So crazy.

The moral of the story is… 15 years later and all of those songs on that album are just as great today as the day they came out and they will forever remind me of my childhood!

Bonus for sticking around to read this post: