this may be the longest period of time i have gone without writing something here.

we've had three birthdays, start of kindergarten and lots of other stuff going on since august. i have thought about writing but then lost energy before getting to it.

i came across this list of writing prompts for December a few weeks ago and it seemed like an easy way to jump back in here. obviously, we are on the 6th day of December and i'm just getting started, so there is no real plan to do everyday but i will do what i can.

the prompt for today is:

Name a song that triggers emotions from the past and describe those emotions.

i am not even sure where to start with this.

i will pick a good memory rather than a hard one.

way back in 2004-2005, i was really in to indie music mostly due to some friends having introduced me to it. if left to my own devices, i stick to whatever comes on the radio. thankfully, i had friends who were willing to search out better music.

The Shins were at the top of my playlist, along with Iron and Wine, Deathcab, Sufjan, etc. For the longest time I had New Slang by the Shins set as my ring tone of my awesome pink razor phone. remember those? they were a really big deal. i know you are impressed.

during this time i had just graduated from A&M and was in living in Austin alone in my one bedroom apartment. i cannot tell you how often i think back to that one bedroom apartment and that period of my life. i was so happy to be living alone but it was definitely a weird time for me. i moved to austin not knowing anyone, still trying to move on after a break-up and really unfamiliar with living in an actual city. i remember driving up down the streets of downtown Austin being in awe that i actually LIVED there. i grew up in a four thousand person town and then moved to another small town for community college before finally transferring to Texas A&M in the thriving metropolis of College Station, Tx. to be fair, College Station felt like city life based on my previous homes. i mean a mall AND a target in town?? it was pretty exciting.

but when i graduated and moved to Austin, it was a whole new world and, while i loved Austin, moving to a place where i knew no one wasn't exactly easy. that transition from easy going, free flowing college life to the monday to friday, 8-5 life was pretty rough too. it took awhile but i finally found my place there. now, when I hear New Slang, i think about driving around Austin exploring my new city, the friendships i had at the time and my first post college job at the Capital Area Food Bank. and i think about the first time my phone rang and a number with the Jacksonville area code "904" showed up on the screen. i had no idea what answering that first phone call was going to lead to. life is crazy that way.