This one time, at band camp —

Whenever I have a thought that begins “remember that one time…” I immediately think of the immortal words from American Pie.  Which usually makes me laugh, remember high school and completely forget about the original thought.

Today, John Mayer’s “Comfortable” popped on Pandora.  It is my ultimate favorite John Mayer song.  My roommate from my last year in college gave me a burned CD of John Mayer songs — one of which was “Comfortable”.  My parents had just moved to their newest house and I played that CD the entire drive back to Penn State after a weekend at home.  Which ended up taking a long time, because I got a little lost in Amish country.

And when the music begins, the mournful, nostalgic guitar — every time, to this very day — I think of driving through Amish country, the sun a cool white in the late days of winter, just on the cusp of the world coming alive again.  I think of my little Honda Civic named Beau.  I think of finally finding Starbucks and knowing where I was.  I think of how long ago it was, before all the darkness and sadness and confusion of my twenties.  I think of the poignancy of the lyrics, and that instead of truly understanding them, I merely yearned for the feeling the music evoked.

The wonderful simplicity of those lyrics — my mental images of grocery shopping and gray sweatpants, and swearing like a sailor ….  I’d never known any of those things with another person the way I ached to.

Anyway, life takes us so many places, both physically and mentally.  Sitting in my office in the last days of February, for just a moment I was faraway, in a time long gone.  The power of music is eery and crazy like that.