It's amazing how integrally connected music is to our memory and feelings, familiar chords and melodies having the power to call up with the force of the initial feeling the events and emotions associated with their hearing.
This summer, shortly after breaking up with my boyfriend, I bought Death Cab For Cutie's Plans. I just listened to it again today. It's astounding how powerfully the melancholy strains of "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" or "Someday You Will Be Loved" bring back with intensity those days, driving down the long rural highway between my home and town, on misty-rained or sunny-green days, singing along loudly in harmony, trying to forget. Trying to heal.
I still love the music. And I'm sure whenever I listen to it, it will be inextricably associated with that time in my life. There's no pain in that now. I want to remember.