Sunday, June 22, 2025
Time: 7:06 PM
Song: Margaritaville
Artist: Jimmy Buffett
Mode of Consumption: Listening to radio while cutting a watermelon.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/4EEjMyQub6tgFVshlM9j1M?si=6e15b80a20c54b7c
In August of 1996, my parents packed our van and we went south to Atlanta to visit my brother, Matt.
I have a couple memories about this trip.
The first was that because they didn’t want to travel around Atlanta while the Olympics were going on, we put off the vacation until August. So, I missed the first full week of practice for the freshman football team. I was not a happy camper.
Sterling had a pretty strong program, and there were nearly sixty freshmen vying for 22 starting spots. Missing that developmental week put me behind for that season. I don’t know if I ever really felt like I caught up as I didn’t get that starting spot until my sophomore year, and that was at center, a position I had never previously played.
The second was that my brother had a small CD collection that he hadn’t had when he still lived at home. He had moved to Atlanta after graduating from the University of Illinois the spring before to work as an engineer for a pipeline company.
He was the oldest, the first to leave the nest, and he had flown a long way from Northern Illinois.
I think I was a little in awe.
I recall he had a small apartment. I remember watching Sportscenter on his TV while he grilled us dinner one night.
I remember his CDs. Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest hits. Bob Seger’s Greatest Hits. There might have been a Heart CD, certainly some Beatles. Steve Miller. Fleetwood Mac. A bevy of classic rock, and my own interest in music was growing.
Many of the same CDs made their way into my collection over the next few years. I told you, that trip made an impact on me.
No comments:
Post a Comment