I was perusing iTunes when I came across some tracks from R.E.M. from the album "Green" that I haven't heard in many, many years. This is a bit unusual, because I had "Green" on cassette and I must have listened to it every day in 1989. And favourites like that usually make it into my lifelong music collection, much like all the '80s tunes I have preserved over the years....even the obscure ones.There is definitely a benefit to exhuming music from a vault that's been closed for (gulp) 18 years. The memories that fly out when you open the vault are completely undiluted...fresh and powerful.
In my case, "Green" takes me back to 1989, my first year at the University of Kentucky after I had completed two years at the local community college. I was living in Chevy Chase in Lexington, about two miles from school, in a half of a house that had only one air conditioner that barely worked.
Sigh...I was 21. I can't believe that's almost half a lifetime ago.
One guy I hung out with, "D.G.," dated a girl named Stef who I never met. He said she had really short hair and he really liked it. He talked about her all the time, but she lived in another town or something. I'd hang out at his house all the time playing Jenga (whenever he wanted to play, he'd look at me and say, "Let's Jenga") and partaking of herbal substances. I never really was a drinker despite being freshly legal.
Of course, I had a crush on D.G. A big one. But he was with Stef and he talked about her all the time. It's only when I think about it now that I realize this guy probably liked me and I could have totally snagged him from her. But I was too scared to take chances back then.
I grew up too early, but not in the sense most people assume. I wasn't getting drunk every night, sleeping around, or any of that nonsense. I was working. I lived in an apartment by myself. I had a credit card. My college life was secondary to the adult responsibilities I imposed on myself.
If I had it all to do over again, I would have lived on campus, gone away to college, partied more, dated more ... had more fun and been a little more carefree and (dare I say it) reckless.
Ah, 1989. A good year that could have been great.
