Day 23: Memories

It's ridiculous how fast my mood can change just by listening to a specific song.  My Frou Frou album popped up while my iPod was on shuffle, on the way home from Bible study, and I almost started bawling on the metro.  Almost.

A very special handful of people know what that album means to me.  For the rest of you, here are just a few of the things that album represents:
-Austin, Texas
-Best friends, old and new
-Road trips
-Complete freedom
-Ice cream man
-Playing foosball with Miguel
-Hole in the Wall
-McKinney Falls
-Diego, Jack, Prince and many other amazing people
-Delicious food
-Great conversations
-happiness, joy, Euphoria
-Sunny skies
-Gilmore girls
-Inhibitions
-Carefree
-House parties
-Music

The last few months of my senior year of college I was a mess.  For reals.  Luckily, Alisha Dawn Schoenecker isn't one for moping, brooding, introversion or anything of the sort and basically told me to suck up and continue with our spring break plans even though I was against - and had been for weeks - any sort of human interaction.  It was a life changing week.  I really have no idea how everything happened that did, but basically the planets and fates aligned in my favor to let me experience pure, unadulterated bliss for a week.  Every moment of that week was amazing; it was as though no wrong could be done, nor could anything get in our way or bring us down.  I'm still completely in awe of how perfect it was.

During that week I made some amazing friends which led me to make the KC to Austin trek at least twice more in the couple months that immediately followed.  Jack and Diego instantly became best friends.  I am a person who believes friendship comes with times, shared experiences, etc., but the immediate bond between us all was undeniable.  I don't think they will ever know how much they have changed and influenced/inspired my life just in our few short visits, but they did and I will forever be grateful to them.  What completely amazing and loving people.  I'm so lucky to know them and to have shared one of the greatest weeks of my life with them.

So at first, when Frou Frou popped up, my first reaction was to skip, because normally if I don't, I start to tear up and get sad that I'm not with my friends in Austin - because for me, that album will forever be intertwined with Austin in my mind - but tonight I resisted the urge; I just listened, and relived, and accepted the beautiful memory for what it was.

Thank you God for Frou Frou.  Thank you God for Austin.  Thank you God for my memories.  Thank you God for irreplaceable friends with whom I share bonds that cannot be separated by neither time nor distance.