Wake Me Up

My senior year of high school began with a break-up, the first big one [see What's an emotion that you never feel?], and one song playing on the radio at the time was Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends. As I sang along, I imagined that I was placing a request to be in a coma for the month and to wake up on September 30 over the worst of the pain. Yeah, singing Green Day was definitely self-indulgent. I was feeling nostalgic. Billie Joe sings, “Seven years have gone so fast,” and I made this into a reference to my middle and high school years. Now, seven years have passed since that September break-up, and I closed this September with a bike ride to the lake. I saw families hanging out on a beach that had formed in our recent drought and I joined them, happy to be part of the crowd, kind of liking the country music blaring from the pick-up truck backing up to the dock. A lot of times, I want to remember everything, but this afternoon, it occurred to me that remembering everything at some future date might actually not make me as happy as expected. What makes me happy is sitting out in the sun right now, even if I don’t end up remembering it. This is a wake-up call for my nostalgic self. 

Cheap Walmart Valentine's Day memorabilia.

"Ring out the bells again
Like we did when spring began."