This is going to be another really weird association, that makes no sense whatsoever. You should go to the bottom, click on the song and listen while you read - it was hard to explain, and I'm drinking wine again, which makes me wordy:
I remember going back to staff DTS in Kona, which was literally the very best time of my life - I wish everyone alive could experience that time. Pure bliss. It was so great that I couldn't even take it for granted. I knew every waking moment that I would always look at that time in my life and long for it back.
Right after I got there I became friends with this girl, who incidentally had a car, though I didn't realize then that on a YWAM base, this is tantamount to celebrity. One thing Hawaii wasn't was beaches. The Big Island has surprisingly few actually, and any that are halfway decent are taken over by very expensive hotels. But, I now had a friend with a car, and we spent the first three weeks before the students arrived (and every weekend after they were there) taking off and sneaking into said hotels. It's amazingly easy if the pool is outdoors, and you're in a place like Hawaii, where everything needs a lanai feel to it so nobody bothers to build walls anywhere. The front desks and common areas of most hotels have no walls, thus, no doors, thus, no keyed entry to get to the pool. Grab a blue and white striped towel from the stack waiting, order a drink at the bar, and lounge. Or drive the half hour to a beach and get sand in your bathing suit. Tough decision.
Anyway, I digress (and miss Hawaii, suddenly). This friend, the one with the car, had just broken up with her boyfriend and was sad about it, and I had just finished a really foul relationship that I'd gotten in with a guy who drank and smoked pot incessantly and who fought with me far more than he was nice to me. Don't ask. The last time I walked out of his apartment though he was crying and I was laughing with relief that I had a plane ticket in my name and didn't have to actually grow a spine and stop a really destructive relationship. All to say, I have been an idiot at many times in my life, none worse than RIGHT before I left for Hawaii, and I got there and ended up nursing my stupidity with the self-righteous feeling that said, "I'd have stopped seeing him. I wouldn't have done anything really regretful, or anything that my family and God and any female with half a brain wouldn't be ashamed to be associated with me for. I WOULD HAVE. Promise. Ahem."
My friend, who had a brain, was sad at the loss of a real relationship and listened endlessly to this CD, which I think might be the best break-up album of all time. So while she was sad and singing "And as for me I'm gonna hear the saddest songs and sit alone and wonder how you're making out" I was falling in love with Hawaii and the grace of God that plucked me from I am certain would have been a life-destroying relationship and plunked me straight into the best two years of my life. And for that reason alone, I will always love Dashboard Confessional. Their melancholy whiney emo garbage always takes me to Hawaii. Killer Taco's with the girls before we head to the beach or to sneak into the Hilton. Crushed into a backseat that was never meant to hold more than one bag of groceries, no AC in the heat, bathing suit under my shorts and tank top, and a bag with a good book and some tanning oil, and a piece of fruit that I'd stolen from the lunch line. It's a sad song, and yet, will always make me incredibly happy.
I remember going back to staff DTS in Kona, which was literally the very best time of my life - I wish everyone alive could experience that time. Pure bliss. It was so great that I couldn't even take it for granted. I knew every waking moment that I would always look at that time in my life and long for it back.
Right after I got there I became friends with this girl, who incidentally had a car, though I didn't realize then that on a YWAM base, this is tantamount to celebrity. One thing Hawaii wasn't was beaches. The Big Island has surprisingly few actually, and any that are halfway decent are taken over by very expensive hotels. But, I now had a friend with a car, and we spent the first three weeks before the students arrived (and every weekend after they were there) taking off and sneaking into said hotels. It's amazingly easy if the pool is outdoors, and you're in a place like Hawaii, where everything needs a lanai feel to it so nobody bothers to build walls anywhere. The front desks and common areas of most hotels have no walls, thus, no doors, thus, no keyed entry to get to the pool. Grab a blue and white striped towel from the stack waiting, order a drink at the bar, and lounge. Or drive the half hour to a beach and get sand in your bathing suit. Tough decision.
Anyway, I digress (and miss Hawaii, suddenly). This friend, the one with the car, had just broken up with her boyfriend and was sad about it, and I had just finished a really foul relationship that I'd gotten in with a guy who drank and smoked pot incessantly and who fought with me far more than he was nice to me. Don't ask. The last time I walked out of his apartment though he was crying and I was laughing with relief that I had a plane ticket in my name and didn't have to actually grow a spine and stop a really destructive relationship. All to say, I have been an idiot at many times in my life, none worse than RIGHT before I left for Hawaii, and I got there and ended up nursing my stupidity with the self-righteous feeling that said, "I'd have stopped seeing him. I wouldn't have done anything really regretful, or anything that my family and God and any female with half a brain wouldn't be ashamed to be associated with me for. I WOULD HAVE. Promise. Ahem."
My friend, who had a brain, was sad at the loss of a real relationship and listened endlessly to this CD, which I think might be the best break-up album of all time. So while she was sad and singing "And as for me I'm gonna hear the saddest songs and sit alone and wonder how you're making out" I was falling in love with Hawaii and the grace of God that plucked me from I am certain would have been a life-destroying relationship and plunked me straight into the best two years of my life. And for that reason alone, I will always love Dashboard Confessional. Their melancholy whiney emo garbage always takes me to Hawaii. Killer Taco's with the girls before we head to the beach or to sneak into the Hilton. Crushed into a backseat that was never meant to hold more than one bag of groceries, no AC in the heat, bathing suit under my shorts and tank top, and a bag with a good book and some tanning oil, and a piece of fruit that I'd stolen from the lunch line. It's a sad song, and yet, will always make me incredibly happy.
Day Five: A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere
Dashboard Confessional: "Screaming Infidelities"
4:14 PM
Melanie, I love this post. It is strange how such a sad song can remind you of such a wonderful time in your life. I can just imagine you sneaking into the pools at hotels.
4:32 PM
We did sneak a lot. Peter and I sneaked into one of the five star hotels with the big white hammocks on the beach (where they take those cheesy calendar photos) and made out like bandits for hours the one day. LOL. I had beard burn all over my face for days. Ahh, Hawaii. Such a good time.