THE cool morning breeze, early sunsets, sparkling lanterns, and Christmas carols on the radi -- -all these just mean that Christmas is slowly peeping in. It's funny how I vividly remember my delight while listening to the Chipmunks' Christmas album at the backseat of my father's white Toyota Starlet during one of our Sunday family trips.
Hearing Alvin sing "Silverbells, it's Christmas time in the city..." while my brother and I giggled together when we were still toddlers. These childhood memories are just priceless and too fond to cherish, and they certainly give me a blissful feeling.
All of us have good and bad memories, and it's quite remarkable that these can be remembered through songs. It's like an inexplicable feeling when you hear a line or two from a familiar song and you feel transported back to that exact moment and place. Our experiences in life, whether happy or tragic, can also be described exactly in songs. I remember the time when I experienced my first heartbreak, I was crying endlessly in front of a stereo with a Jose Mari Chan song's entitled Constant Change playing on the background.
My mother, too, has a handful of stories to share every time she hears a particular song. Like Angela Bofill's You Should Know By Now reminds her of their Baguio trip when they were newly married, or how she cries along Lani Misalucha's Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin specifically the lines of "Puso'y lumaban man walang magagawa" because all of her mother, father, sister and just recently her brother died of illness. For her, it's so heartbreaking to think that her parents and siblings still wanted to live even just a little longer but just can't do anything.
As a child, I grew up listening to my Dad's collection of cassette tapes composed of Madonna, Michael Jackson, Nonoy Zuniga, and Gary Valenciano. This is why, up to now, I still feel like Madonna when I hear her song "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin."
When I was six years old, I represented our "purok" in the barangay beauty contest and sang Sheryl Cruz' Mr. Dreamboy in the talent competition. Growing up, I remember dancing in our school field demonstrations to the tune of Mamang Sorbetero, Howgee (with matching yellow ribbons tied in our hands as props) and Janet Jackson's Runaway. I also recall joining an inter-school dance contest as a Dance Troupe member with our piece Black Cat by Janet Jackson. Basically, I can say that my grade school days were memories full of dance numbers and presentations.
In secondary school, a lot of things changed. I was not the usual "grade-conscious" student because my attention was poured into a thing they call "puppy love." This stage in my life is represented by my cassette tape collection complete with all the albums of Backstreet Boys, N Sync, The Moffats, Spice Girls, Alanis Morisette, and Matchbox 20. This is my "I-go-crazy-for-Nick-Carter" moment in life, and in terms of fashion, we would dress up like one of the Spice Girls. I wanted to be Posh Spice or Victoria Beckham when I was a teenager. Roselle Nava's "Bakit Nga Ba Mahal Kita" and Jolina Magdangal's "Kapag Ako ay Nagmahal" both remind me of a few more heartaches I experienced when I was in high school.
My college days were more liberating in nature, as I was given the chance to study in Manila. I believe that was the beginning of the CD piracy industry and I remember buying a pirated Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication album. My music preference during this time was more on pop alternative with songs like Vertical Horizon's "You're a God" and Nickelback's "How you Remind Me." But I also have some memories on the softer side with Mandy Moore's "Only Hope" from one of my favorite movies entitled A Walk to Remember.
Flash forward button to the present?after so many experiences and jobs that I encountered after college, I am still making more memories through songs, both good and even the bad ones to remember. With nine years of marriage and two very adorable kids, I can say that the song "God Gave Me You" best illuminate my present life as a wife and mother. As the song goes, "God gave me you show me what's real, there's more to life than just how I feel...And all that I'm worth is right before my eyes."