Friday, August 10, 2012

I got soul but I'm not a soldier

This week's song of the week is dedicated to my dear friend Mikayla

The whole time Sam was here I couldn't help but think I was roughly her age when I visited Victoria for the first time (just a little older.. turned 24 here). And then All These Things That I've Done by the Killers started playing non stop on the radio and I could clearly remember what it felt like to be 23.

Because you see, that song was the song of the year 23. Of the (school) year 05/06. Of the year of Mikayla and Erin. And that song became our anthem. After a night of bringing in my 23rd birthday at the worst stagette I've ever been at, having to leave my own surprise dressing room Bomb-itty birthday to go to it, heavy into the year that began my drunken blackouts, Amber and I decided we would have more fun watching me blackout then at that bar hopping every 25 minute stagette where the bride completely forgot it was my birthday. Mikayla met us for last call at the Scuzz and it became the kind of night that memories are made of. The best part was when I woke up on Amber's couch, really hungover but with a clear memory of all of it. Triumphantly 23, Amber and I loaded up the mix CD Jessica had made me in honour of this birthday and the first song to play was this one. We blared it through the windows on our way to get Mikayla for greasy fries and gravy with a side of bacon at Smitty's and an anthem was born. (as most of you know, clear memories of drunken nights didn't last and I eventually gave up drinking all together, but I'm glad that I got this night and this memory)

That song carried Mik and I through the year. We played it over house speakers in the North Studio, we played it in my bachelor suite apartment, we requested it in bars ("you girls like the keeeeeelers??"), it blared out of our cars on road trips. That was our song and that was our year.

And yesterday when I felt sad and somewhat hopeless I kept getting lines from it stuck in my head.
"when you can't hold on... hold on."
And Mikayla and I had time to FaceTime and everything looked a lot better.

(Thank you Jessica Klein for the mix CD, I bet you never knew how epic it became)

4 comments:

  1. Was it Smitty's? Or was it that Diner on Broadway... the 50s theme... I seem to remember someone thinking that a milkshake would be a good idea.

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    1. It was Smitty's. I remember the waitress looking at us like we were crazy when we asked for a side of bacon with our fries. But I suspect a milkshake at the Broadway Cafe was another hangover altogether.
      (or was it opening Julius Caesar when I was nauseous from Jim Guedo nerves?)

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