June 9th
That was THE song of the summer of 2006. Great song (as pop songs go), catchy, and yet somehow sophisticated melody and chords changes. It was everywhere on the radio and TV and the internet and in public spaces for a couple of months and I actually didn’t mind it as I usually do with other forgettable and overplayed “Summer Hit Songs” for a given summer. And yet I forgot about it for many years until I heard it today on the radio. Still a great song, and immediately brought back memories of that time…
And then I realized — what memories of that time do I have? What do I remember of 2006, especially of the summer? I know I lived with Jola on Macarthur Ave in Garfield, NJ. Second-floor walkup, it was an ok apartment. We had a cat named Grosz, we had a 2002 Honda Civic, and a 2001 GMC Safari. I worked as a production line leader for a windows manufacturer, Jola was a supervisor/driver for a cleaning service. We didn’t have many worries — but this is a guess and an assumption. I know our marital problems (and Jola’s health problems) started around 2009–2010 (am I really sure of that?). But how exactly it was for us, for me in 2006? Why I don’t remember anything about that year. What was I reading, what was on my mind, did anything of note happened? All I know at that time I was really into football (soccer) — playing countless hours on “Football Manager 2006”, developing new and fail-safe tactics for my teams, getting up early to watch games streaming on the internet.
And drinking, I did a lot of drinking in 2006 (not really different from any other year).
But I remember this song, I have a vague memory that me and Jola, we were driving, her GMC, a hot and humid day, route 80? route 46? I think somewhere around the Delaware Water gap? Were we going to Pennsylvania? Or maybe for a day trip to Belvidere for a dinner and walk along the Delaware River? We were talking and I think we talked about this song. I think we had this easy natural fun, we always did on the road trips together. That’s what I remember…
Why am I crying now?
