Monday, October 10, 2016

remembering Jordan




You know how when you hear a certain song, it brings up a totally random memory? The sights and sounds and smells smack you in the face and suddenly you miss it all over again...

When I was in Jordan (read the full post here) I listened to the song Good Good Father over and over and over again, probably thirty times in two weeks, because that's what I was learning at the time, and I wanted to connect the song and my time in the Middle East forever. But it's kind of funny, because that's not at all what happened. Good Good Father makes me think of crying in church and spending my Friday nights with the people I didn't know would become my best friends... it makes me think of driving in the snow, and singing on an empty stage with three of my favourite people in the whole world. I don't think of Jordan at all when I hear that song... not even a little bit.

It takes a random, fun little song by a small band called Walk Off The Earth to bring me back to Jordan. My sister introduced me to their song Hold On in the week before I left, and in one of our last nights before flying back to Canada, I had it stuck in my head. Listening to it now brings back the spice in the air, the dusty streets, the car packed full full full of Dutch missionary kids speaking fluent Arabic, waking up to the Muslim call to prayer at 4am and tossing and turning in a strange hotel room, oceans away from home. My heart tugs a little bit when I hear the first few chords, because for some reason, this song was my link to home, my little bit of the Western world, of Canada, my connection with my sister while I was so far away from home. (We had facebook, but really, it's not the same.)

Anyway, I've been listening to it again, and remembering Jordan, and feeling thankful. I'm so grateful I had the chance to go, to fly on an airplane, to hold a little Syrian baby and say "God bless you" to his 16 year old refugee mama. I'm so thankful for the car rides through the desert, getting stuck in traffic in the pouring rain and listening to the same Adventures in Odyssey tape four times to keep the kids sane. I'm thankful for amphitheaters, shawarma, and coming home after two weeks in one piece, to a family who loves me and friends who sprinted across church on Good Friday to tackle me when I got back.


So this was a random little post that I didn't mean to write, but here we are! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you... what songs are sparking your memory lately?

this week in the blogging world: Erin punches home some truth, Grace Anne misses a sunset, and Abbiee reads my mind - again! I also put up a new post at Burning Youth on God and ugliness and other things I've been pondering... come on over, and maybe stay a while? the girls I write with are BRILLIANCE itself, basically.

with love,
Olivia




15 comments:

  1. I don't really have a song that takes me back to a specific memory. There are songs, however, that remind me of growing up with four older siblings. I'll hear a song, and it will be familiar, but at first I'll have no idea why until I realize one of my siblings played it while they were still at home. I might not like the songs, but I still have to have them on a playlist somewhere just cause.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You nailed it, Sagebrush! That feeling exactly. You don't have to like the song to like the memory.... (I'm lucky to like both, in this case!)

      Delete
  2. For someone who is totally a music geek, I have surprisingly few songs like this. Other than musical theatre songs I performed in a show! I really like this post, though- the realness of the memories just drew me in!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it's a memory thing, and not a music thing?? I am really good (or really bad, depending on how you look at it) at associating one thing with another... sometimes I can do it on purpose and it helps me remember stuff for tests, and sometimes I accidentally associate the wrong things together and end up thinking about spaghetti during a math exam. ^.^

      Delete
  3. "When We Were Young" by Adele is always going to be linked with my first semester of college, since they played it during our orientation. Most any U2 sing takes me back to when I was around fifteen, and "Welcome to New York" by Taylor Swift will always remind me off the Marvel show Daredevil, for some bizarre reason.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooo Adele... I don't think I know that one! Taylor Swift's "Fearless" album takes me back to grade 6 *snaps fingers* so, so fast. Isn't it crazy how a song can do that??

      Delete
  4. asdfghjkl this post is stunning and glorious and full of sentiment but in the deepest and most raw way possible. <3 I KNOW THAT FEELING OF THE SONG REMINDING YOU OF A PLACE. *nod nod* It's the most beautiful when you first hear a song on a road trip/omg huge fabulous trip like the one you went on to Jordan! THEN IT'S LIKE YOU ARE TRANSPORTED BACK THERE. <3333 I GET IT BRO.

    Also eeeeeep you mentioned my post!! *is flailing* :'')

    lotsalove,
    abbiee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abbieeeeee what can I DO with you?!?!?? But yes, the song/road trip thing is the BEST part. Also OF COURSE I mentioned your post, hello, because it was BRILL. :p Flail no more!!

      Delete
  5. Isn't it crazy how a certain song just brings back those images in your mind SO vividly?? The other day a song came on the radio that I hadn't listened to in ages, and I swear, within the first three or four chords, my mind was completely transported through time. It's so funny and wonderful. <3

    Also I'm completely dying over the fact that you mentioned my post!!!! :') You are the absolute sweetest, Olivia.♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is funny and wonderful, Grace Anne! I absolutely love it. ♥ There's a song that my sibs and I used to listen to when we were kids, and when I hear it, it takes me back to the book series I was reading at the time (that's my most prominent sound/memory!)

      I mentioned it because it was gold!! And so are you <3

      Delete
  6. That is sooo cool that you've been to Jordan. (I LOVE THE PHOTOS.) I generally listen to music and plot my writing, so when I hear a song randomly and it was one I plotted to, I'll always think of my book. :') We can agree your story is WAY more awesome. (Also this post is beautiful ahhh!!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (I am still DYING over the fact that I HAVE BEEN TO JORDAN. Much flail). I don't always listen to music and write, but I do have a playlist from the last book I wrote and I like to do the same thing! It makes me feel very sentimental. :p

      Delete
  7. OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!!!
    okay just so so so beautiful ok.

    Randy Abby

    WAKE ME UP Blog

    ReplyDelete
  8. Memory works in such weird ways, doesn't it? The things you think will bring back specific times don't -- you can't control that, no matter how hard you try. And sometimes it really is the quirky little songs or other bits you don't see coming that take you back to a special time, and that makes them all the more powerful.

    ReplyDelete

Comments from you make my day! ♥ True story.