Track 23: "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" by Pearl Jam

I seem to recognize your face...

Trips home to Columbia seem to bring about a sense of nostalgia on the ol' blog here, and this past weekend was no different.

The wedding of a best friend's older sister brought back a flood of familiar faces I haven't seen since I was a teenager. I've known Patrick Hill for as long as I can remember. Through church, middle school and high school--and to this day--I have no recollections of not knowing him and his family. His sister, Shelley, is three years older than us (the same age as my brother, Matt), so between church and high school friends we all pretty much grew up around the same people.

Between the collective mind's eye of church people and the high school folks, I was a perpetual 14 year old...the younger brother. Always. And seeing their first impressions of me as a 'grown up' (I use this term loosely as I am sure I don't meet the dictionary definition of "Grown Up"), was a cool experience to live through.

Sincerely, there isn't much better in life than catching up with friends. And I got to spend some quality time with some of my favorite people this weekend! It's sad that it's starting to happen more and more these days at funerals. But it's hard to beat an extremely fun wedding. Plus, I've always really enjoyed getting drunk in a suit.

And there may be no better nostalgic song for me than this Pearl Jam tune. I have very distinct memories of the first times and places I heard each of Pearl Jam's first three albums and this band was a HUGE part of the soundtrack to my formative high school years.

This song, in particular, has always stuck with me.

Track 23 is a wedding gift (it's literally about all I can afford right now)to Kenley Young and his beautiful new bride, Shelley Hill. The good fortunes of your life together began last night, by being able to pack a room with such a great group of people.