The power of music… again

While working today I was listening to a song. It’s a song that at one time I listened to very often back when I first got out of high school. I would be driving back and forth each day to Indianapolis for work and during long car rides I got to listen to lots of music. Many mornings and evenings were spent with the stereo blaring my favorite artists from Eric Johnson to Meshuggah and you can bet that everything in-between was just as non-traditional.
Those songs encapsulate that time period. I listen to Eric Johnson’s "Song For Lynette" and I’m back in my old, blue Oldsmobile Delta 88 and I’m driving down 70 towards Richmond. It’s strange that I drove to Indianapolis just as many times as I drove home, but most of what I remember are the trips home. The feeling of being done with work for the day and the excitement of a long car ride combined into a moment of complete happiness. The comfort of an air conditioned car on a 90 degree summer day and the time to enjoy it all on the way home.
Why are things always better looking back? I romantisize that time period of my life so much, mostly because I’m not there anymore. I’ve moved on, I’m married, I don’t live with my parents and I have a job that I don’t dread going to every day… why do I even think about the past? I sure didn’t enjoy it much at the time.