*I posted about kids, responsibilities and the new year over on Every Day Cheer today.
I heard something on the Today Show last week that mentioned some of the popular songs that were turning 20 years old in 2014. Songs that I still happen to love.
The songs of 1994 were Ace of Base’s “The Sign” and Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You)” and Mariah Carey’s “Hero.” (And then that song was sung at every junior pageant or talent show for the next five years.) I don’t have strong emotional connections to the songs of 1994, though I do really like them. But it’s the songs of 1995 that tug at me.
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.
Is there a year of music that brings back strong memories like that for you?
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
Yes, 1997 is my year. We moved when I was 12 from a small town in northwest Ohio to Oklahoma and it was so very hard. It took me longer than a summer to adjust. My school in Ohio was roughly 900 from k-12 but my class alone was 600+ kids. It was a very difficult transition. Very difficult. But God. Oh, my two favorite words. The summer after moving, I became involved in a youth group, went to church camp and finally let God get ahold of me and give me peace. Since then, Oklahoma has become my home. My husband and I moved back here after college and we now have a family. But going through that, I too, have the confidence to know that I can do anything or go anywhere, as long as I have God and my family.
I had such a similar experience! I left Louisiana in the summer of 1988… To move to a small town in Ohio. I was 13 also, and music always seems to mark the years ( or grades really) or me. I was so lucky we found a great church youth group so soon after moving, so I knew a few familiar faces when school started!
I remember all those songs too because my parents listened to them. I think we are very close in age! 🙂 The songs that I remember most are the ones I listened to in 2001. That was the year I graduated High School and started college and it’s the year my first love and I broke up. We had dated all through HS (3 years) and my heart was literally in pieces. I was going to college without any of my HS friends and it was a community college (hard to make new ones). I leaned on lots of lost love songs from that time period.
Love this! I think I’m a year older than you (born in ’81) but I also moved in my 8th grade year. We even moved in the middle of the year–talk about hard! But, i made great friends quickly, all of whom I’m still very close with to this day. We moved from PA to SC, so there was a huge culture change, much of which you probably witnessed as well. I can still recall certain songs that take me back to plane rides or from my favorite movies!
Trip down memory lane…I was a bit younger, but remember those songs and can still sing most of them!!! What about the song What if God was one of us….and love Sophie B. Hawkins….
1995 was a tough year for me too. My parents moved me from a small private school I had attended from 1st grade to a much larger public school for 9th grade. My friends were all at another school and I was isolated as a teachers kid. It was a very hard year and those same songs tug at me every time too.
Loved the post….1994-1995 was my senior year of H.S., so the songs you mentioned totally brought me back to that time. It’s so true how songs bring you right back to a certain phase of life. I also thought it was funny how you mentioned the e-mail topic too. It seems so weird that I started college before e-mail, or even surfing the Internet, were mainstream things. Wow! Guess that makes me really old, huh? 🙂
So funny about the storm! The first time I really listened to pop radio was when I had my first job when I was 15. Which means “Bootylicious” makes me think of mint chocolate chip ice cream. 🙂
Fun post! My year is definitely 1996. I graduated high school and started college. Great memories! My roommate and I would have “One Headlight” by the Wallflowers on repeat.