and I'm back in my old living room

As I was taught in grade school, we have 5 senses (though more are arguable)- Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell and Touch. I recall discovering these by doing various experiments like reaching into a brown paper bag and trying to figure out what was inside based on the feel or it or being blindfolded and having to guess based on the smell of something or it's sound or taste.

I have always found it interesting how our memory is connected with our senses. The obvious being that we usually have at least some vague recollection of a place if we've been there before or even seen a picture. I had some type of bad experience with the color purple when I was a child, not sure what, but probably was a bit sick one day when I was coloring with my crayons. To this day, too much of the color in one place, especially if I'm coloring with it, makes me feel nauseated. This is part of why I can't stand the Vikings and why I'm astounded that I still attend our church, which has gone overboard with the whole purple thing. I'm always amazed at the power of the sense of smell in our memory. A certain smell can trigger a memory in an amazing way; I've heard that smell is most closely linked with memory. A certain version of a honeysuckle fragrance that I loved for years can trigger the excited, stomach jumping up feeling of a high school night out in the summertime. Weird, but that's what it does. The smell of whatever dryer sheets Tom used in college when we started dating can still trigger a giddy feeling when I smell it. The memory associated with taste is why I like certain foods and why "comfort foods" fit into our lives in some way. Without looking I can often know who has come up and attacked me with a hug - the distinct feel of a certain persons hug over another (though I often don't know who it is and it makes me nervous!)

Today, sound is the memory trigger. I am listening to Enter the Worship Circle: Second Circle. I got this CD as a Christmas gift my junior year in college. When I listen, I still sometimes feel that I am back in my old living room in Elmhurst again. I am propped up on the couch with a blown out knee and am pretty out of it from the pain and the medicines meant to dull it and the strange doctors visits and tests I've just undergone. I am feeling very sad, melancholy and reflective. The sound of these songs brings back the emotions of those days of that particular Christmas break. It is connected with that time. I can have new memories and emotions connected with it, but that memory is the first one connected with the hearing of these songs. There is tons of other music like this. The same group's Fourth Circle brings me back to the end of a one year teaching span and housesitting for a family with a crazy dog who wanted to sleep in the bed with us.

So, for now I will continue to listen to this CD and remember where I was when I first heard it.