Take That and Rewind it Back (to 2004)

Remember this?

If you were a hormonally crazed, music loving, teenage girl senior year of high school like I was (and even if you weren't), you may look at this picture and be flooded with nostalgia and happy, care free memories of what life was like before reality hit and its daily consequences truly existed.

And if you are at all like me, you may look at this picture and shout "YEAH!!!", weakly attempt a sexy white girl dance (there may not be such a thing), all the while searching your ipod for the liquid goodness titled "Yeah!" by Usher and his gang of friends.  Then you'll crank the tunes whilst doing unimaginable chores (laundry, gag) that the 2004 version of yourself would have never, for one second considered doing. (The laundry, that is..)

"Yeah!" came on the radio on my ride home from work last week. I absolutely love music and the ability songs have to bookmark memories into your brain. Hence when "Yeah!" played it was as if  I opened my journal to 17 year old Annika.

I thought about Wasatch High School senior year. I thought about the summer that followed graduation. I thought about my best friends, and all of the silly things we used to do. I thought about getting in a car with the windows rolled down with the music blaring, and driving as fast and as far as possible just for the sake of it. I thought of the Midway hot pots, floating the canal on a daily basis, my love for watching music videos until the wee hours of the morning, and daily trips to the Dairy Keen for onion rings and milk shakes when I wasn't on shift working there. I thought about my excitement for college and the total and sheer excitement of not quite knowing what was in store for me. This was 7 years ago.

Where does the time go? 7 years ago, I had no idea that my life was only just beginning.

1 college, 2 universities, 11 moves, 21 roommates, a couple broken hearts, 1 car accident, 9 part time jobs, a faux hawk, 1 college bachelors degree in art, Michael Jackson's funeral, 1 crazy summer in Europe, 3 nephews, 1 niece, and innumerable lifelong friendships later, life's journey has somehow managed to direct to where I am today; happily married for nearly 8 months and working as a graphic designer for a plush animal toy company.

As the 4 minute song that lead me down memory lane came to an end, I pulled into the parking lot, and decided to snap back into reality. I then locked the car, checked the mailbox, and headed upstairs into my cozy 1 bedroom apartment, where I was greeted by my loving husband with a hug and a kiss. Who'd have thought life would be so great?

Take that and rewind it back ;)