allow me a moment of not-quite-nostalgia...

Since my slim, fashionable new iPod is currently MIA (yeah, I'm a bit of a scatterbrain), I recently dug up my clunky old 1-MB mp3 player that I've had since Germany. It was my constant running companion four years ago, and I've been astounded at the memories it's unleashed for me since I started listening to it again.

I was not in my happy place, shall we say, when I listened to those tunes last time around. I was lonely and stressed out and overwhelmed and did I mention lonely? Running helped, though-- pounding the pavement with my feet settled my thoughts a bit and helped me cope.

Tonight's running companion was the Schipol mix, the mix I made years ago whilst whiling away untold hours stranded at the Amsterdam airport waiting for my delayed flight back to the US for one precious weekend. The mix speaks of longing, of exile, of hope, of friendships new and foundational. To anyone else it would come off cheesy or just inscrutable (that's the beauty of mixes, right?), but to me it's a glimpse into an emotional moment of my past, a snapshot of the old me.

I'm pretty happy to be the new me instead. :-) But I still appreciate the music.