No Rain

I'm 20 years old. It's a breezy, mild September evening that hints at the cool autumn ahead. I am walking from my college dorm room to the fraternity "quad" to attend arguably the best fraternity party of the year, the annual Phi Tau Air Guitar competition which takes place outside on a makeshift stage. There are banners made out of old bedsheets waving in the wind as I cross the quad to my boyfriend's fraternity house to watch the acts. All around me, young men and women carry plastic cups concealing illicitly gotten beer and cheap bourbon mixed with store-brand cola. I am proudly wearing a Phi Tau sweatshirt, bestowed upon me by the guy I will later marry. I am young, and I have no responsibilities other than to work hard at school. Blind Melon's "No Rain" is blasting from the stereo speakers.

Actually, I am a 33-year-old mom driving in my car. It's a Sunday afternoon, and I've just finished running errands to get ready for the work week ahead. "No Rain" has just come on the radio for the second time this weekend, and just like the first time, I have gone to my happy place. Every time I hear the opening "Dir rir riiiiir," I flash back to mid-90s college bliss. In particular, I go back to that September night, to that one party, when that song was my siren call to blow off steam from a week of studying and generally being a good girl.

I can't help but crank up the volume. This song, more than any other 90s alt-rock tune, propels me into a simpler time when my biggest worries were turning in my papers on time and wondering whether or not my little on-campus job as an usher would pay well enough to let me order pizza once a week.

Sure, college had its stresses. I was always challenged by my coursework, and money was always tight. But my time was pretty much my own, and if I wanted adult conversation I could just knock on the door of my friends down the hall. The cafeteria food sucked, but at least I didn't have to cook every night. No one depended on me for anything. If I had to stay up until 3 in the morning finishing an assignement, I knew I could crawl back into bed for a nap after class. I did what I needed, but also what I wanted. Life was pretty fabulous.

Not that it's not fabulous now, in its own hectic way. But, oh, how I miss cool September nights spent outside, unoriginal beverage container in hand, moving to "No Rain."

We've all got a song that takes us back (there's even a country song about songs that take you back.) What's your happy place song? Where does it take you?