On the way home from the beach last weekend, I read Emily Giffin’s new book, Where We Belong. (I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to any gal looking for a good, quick read.)
A few chapters of the book take place back in 1995. Songs from 1995 were referenced and my mind naturally went back to 1995.
In 1995, I turned 13 years old. We started the year living in Louisiana, and by the beginning of the summer we had picked up and moved to Indiana. I felt like Indiana was in the middle of no where. I was surrounded by corn fields. There were basketball goals in every driveway. And I didn’t know a soul.
I was a rising 8th grader and almost a teenager that summer. I was an awkward-looking 12 year old. I had a weird bob haircut and I hadn’t really settled into my body yet. I had just said goodbye to all of my friends in the world and rode in our minivan to our new home.
We spent a good 12 hours in the car and listened to a lot of songs on the radio. The music of 1995.
Sitting in my new room in my new house, spending a summer hanging out with my little brother because neither of us had any friends yet, I listened to a lot of radio. And we watched a lot of MTV and VH1.
And I’ll never forget those songs.
Songs like Kiss From a Rose by Seal. And Hook by Blues Traveler.
Waterfalls by TLC and Hold My Hand by Hootie and the Blowfish.
Songs that turned bands into one hit wonders like Roll to Me by Del Amitri. Or As I Lay Me Down by Sophie B. Hawkins. Of course there was You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson. And Strong Enough by Sheryl Crowe.
Still, to this day, when I hear any of the songs from that year, I am flooded with the memory of emotions. The feelings of loneliness and fear. I felt excitement and incredible anticipation. And dread. And the fear and nerves of starting a new school and trying to make friends.
I can almost smell the way my new school smelled on that first day when I hear any of these songs. I remember what it was like to ride a school bus for the first time and hear those songs on the radio.
It’s unclear whether or not I could name the songs of 1996 or 1997. I don’t even really know what songs were really popular when I finished high school. But the pop culture of 1995 is still so fresh in my memory.
I took a couple of trips back to Louisiana that summer for youth choir tour and church camp. I wrote a lot of letters to my friends and I eagerly checked my mailbox every single day for letters. And I saved every one I received. (This was a couple of years before email was a mainstream thing.)
I cried a lot that summer. There was actually a Tropical Storm Erin that summer, and my parents joked with me that it was really me and I was just crying enough to create a tropical storm.
1995 is a huge mark on the map outline of my life. I learned how to start over. I learned that I can be brave and that my home is where my family is. Because of this, I’m not afraid of the possibility of following my husband where ever God wants to take us. And I’m just as open to the idea of living in this great town for the rest of my life because that’s where my family is.
And that summer, I really, for the first time in my life, remember what it feels like to trust in God that He knows the plans for us and that He is going to take care of us.
My brother and I have talked about the songs of 1995 before and the strong memories we have just from hearing the songs on the radio.
But all these thoughts just because I read Where We Belong and Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town was referenced. Oh, the memories.
Is there a song that does that for you? Or a year of music that brings back strong memories like that?
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
This made me giggle a little because the neighborhood I grew up in (and my parents still live in) is surrounded by cornfields… and we have a basketball hoop in our drive way. Ha!
Kenny Chensney always takes me back to summers in high school.
haha! I always think it’s funny that in the south we say “basketball goal” but people in other areas so “basketball hoop.” 🙂
It’s so interesting that you say this because a few weeks ago during our road trip with Nick’s parents from IN to VA we played a game in the car. We put it on the 90’s station, and would cover up the screen and you would get points for guessing what year the song came out, along with the artist and title of the song (we were bored, obviously). I wasn’t very good at remembering most of the artists (so many one hit wonders), but somehow I was really good at remembering the year. I think I’ve always associated songs with memories, which made it easy. I definitely did best with the songs from my middle school years, and those that were really popular on spring breaks!
okay that’s a fun game, Peyton! we need XM radio just so we can do this!
I feel like you just put down in words what I’ve been feeling lately. Its my first year away from family (just got married last year, whoop!) Learning to start over is hard and can be extrememly lonely. And just when that crap starts paralyzing me I realize that trusting God is the only thing that will help me get through it and grow from whats happening right now. Whew. Great post!
Great post. “Home is where my family is”. I just love that and it is so true. 🙂
I love this post so much and it is so true that the song does remember when (Trisha Yearwood) :). I would have to say that the songs of 2001 (especially country ones) are the ones I remember the most. That is the year that I broke up with my HS sweetheart of 3 years and felt like the end of that relationship was a death to me. I grieved hard. He was my first love so any and all breakup or heartache songs of that time were my anthem. But by the same token that was the same year (months later) that I met my husband. Lets just say the Kenny Chesney song “The Good Stuff” was important to me and my future husband that year.
Every so often a local radio station will have a 90’s day. I spent an entire afternoon listening while I painted molding for my house. Every song would transport me back to a particular year in HS. Love how music and smells have this power.
Erin I moved in the summer of 95 from Virginia (near Washington DC) to middle of nowhere in Oklahoma and I was also 12! I remember watching these exact videos on Mtv and buying the Kiss from a Rose cassette single. I also remember that Clueless came out that year and I saw it in the the movie theater of my tiny small town mall. I remember those nerves and feeling of dread about starting a new school and knowing no one! I still get that feeling at 30 years old when it’s back to school time!
Yes! I saw Clueless in the theater twice that summer. I didn’t “get” half of the jokes at the time, but I do love that movie. And gosh…. those nerves. It’s such a hard time to be a girl.
I just finished this book and loved it. I was sad when it was over, but like you, it made me flash back to 1995, the year I graduated high school. Every song she (and you) mentioned made me smile.
The book was so great! I really hope there’s a sequel… and a movie!
Hi –
I read your blog regularly, but never really comment. But seriously – I could have written this exact post. Except the year was 1993. We had just moved from Virginia to Connecticut and I was a rising 8th grader also. That summer my parents were my only friends (I’m an only child) and any song that was regularly played during that time (think Counting Crows “Mr. Jones”) instantly takes me back to that time and place.
I remember 1993 having great music, too! I love Mr. Jones so much. It’s one of my all time favorites. And is there a worse time to change schools than the 8th grade?
I actually think 1995 would be my year, also. I was 16 and worked at a grocery store. I had my own car and my best friend and I spent LOTS of time cruising around town listening to TAPE SINGLES.
oh, the tape singles!
you just took me way back! and i heard as i lay me down the other day on the radio and just belted it out right along with sophie! 🙂 my dance class did a ballet routine to a kiss from a rose that year! and TLC was one of my FAV bands! thanks for the memories!
I had forgotten some of those songs until you just wrote them. I was on a cruise ship IN tropical storm Erin!
I LOVE music and it’s always fun to relive those glory days with a tune from my past. Sometimes, when a really fun song like Build me up Buttercup or Elevation comes on – it makes me wonder if some of these crazy songs from our life now will be replayed years from now or it they will just disappear.
I think about this a lot, too, Jennifer. Will we be listening to the Black Eyed Peas on “classic oldies” stations?
Oh, Erin! I remember sitting on the bus & seeing you walk on when we reached your part of the neighborhood! Memories! You’ve brought me back! I remember DMB & Blues Traveler back then on our bus rides to and from YMS. You in 1995 was me in 1997 when we left Indiana and I was brought to the land of sweet tea & mountains. Megan Trapp was my personal pen pal all summer!!
The good old YMS days 🙂 And the 8th grade DC trip. Ha!
love this so much 🙂 I was 9 that summer, but I still remember so, so well.
Anything from Hootie & the Blowfish takes me back to my days as a student at USC. I was there from ’92-’97. My husband and I met there. We were able to get tickets to the MTV unplugged concert on the Horseshoe. At the time he was just my boyfriend and 14 years later we are still married.
Oh how fun! I can still remember them wearing Gamecock hats back then! Go Cocks!
Erin this post resonates with me so much! I too moved across the country in 1995, from DC to San Antonio. I had major culture shock, had no friends, and wrote letters constantly to my friends back “home.” The songs you mentioned are etched on my heart too. Other big ones from that year that stick out to me are “I’ll Make Love To You” – I was so scandalous listening to my Boyz II Men, and anything by Hootie and the Blowfish (whom I still adore to this day).
The other one I remember now is Boyz II Men’s “Water Runs Dry.” I loved that one. And also “Wonderwall” by Oasis. Love!
I’ve been reading a book called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. You might really enjoy it
Hey Lissa, I love One Thousand Gifts so much. Ann’s blog is one of my very favorites.
Half those songs you mentioned are currently on my IPod. Shook Me All Night Long reminds me of my first boyfriend when I was 18. I’ll Remember by Madonna was my prom song so listening to that one brings me back to my senior year high school.
Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” CD brings me back to when I was finishing up college and moving home with my parents to save some money. I had just broken up with a very volatile boyfriend and I remember pulling into the driveway of my parent’s house with my mom in the passenger seat while “Behind These Hazel Eyes” came on the CD player. I just burst into tears and hugged the steering wheel while my mom silently patted my leg. That CD let loose a flood of emotions – from being sad about moving home but eager to get started with “real life” to being angry at my ex-boyfriend while still believing that we could have worked it out.
Now listening to those songs it reminds me of where I’ve been and how strong I became because of that experience.
And Kelly is still my favorite to blast on the car stereo when it’s just me in the car. 🙂
How about the guy who auditioned for the musical we were in by singing “Kissed by a Rose” a Capella! There’s a memory!
Oh wow – the only other book where the songs resonate so much isThe Perks of Being a Wallflower. But, in 1995 I was going from sophomore to junior in high school. I worked at my parents’ ice cream parlor in the summer time at the Jersey shore.
I think it’s wild how music can really strike your core. And, yes – I remember being teased about Hurricane Erin.
🙂