Triggers. We all have them. They make us recall memories-- sometimes horrible, often good-- from the deepest recesses of our brains.Many of my triggers are songs. I heard Al Stewart's Year of the Cat while watching a movie the other day and instantly I was a junior in high school in the driver's ed car, enjoying the spring breeze, free from the bondage of the classroom. In my memory, Year of the Cat was always on the radio during my twice-a-week driver's ed outings.
This morning's trigger was the single-serving carton of Tropicana orange juice that came with my Chic-fil-A breakfast. I don't think I've had a carton of Tropicana since the days long ago in San Diego when Amanda and I used to visit the Jack-in-Box drive-thru nearly every morning on our way to her school. In those days, the #9 combo was the only thing I could get Amanda to eat for breakfast. It didn't hurt that the drive-thru attendant was a hot young thing named Cat. Seeing her was usually the high point of my day.
I rarely reminisce about the five years we lived in San Diego. Those were not happy times for me. Thanks to my orange juice this morning, I was able to recall something pleasant from that awful time in my life.
4 comments:
It is funny & great how that happens.
Smell is my biggest trigger. I had to throw out a bottle of perfume once cause it took me back to where I didn't want to go. The nice smells are better :-)
Glad you were able to get a happy memory from an unhappy time.
Damn I miss Chick-fil-A, they don't seem to have it here.
Music has been my trigger lately. After breaking up with my latino lover I still enjoy listening to all the spanish music he introduced me to... but it was very hard for awhile because I'd listen to some and remember "Oh, I was giving him a BJ in the car when this was playing.." or "We were making love at the resort for 4 hours listening to this" or "That song reminds me of when we were at Daytona" etc....
Now I can listen to 90 percent of the songs and just enjoy them without flashbacks. The love songs he used to sing to me are still hard for me to handle. "Marc Anthony's Tu Amor Me Hace Bien" (Your love is good for me) is really difficult.
Smells: I cannot smell Oil of Olay face moisturizer. The guy that raped me when I was 16 used that as lube. I shudder to this day.
TMI... sorry.
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