'A Tad Old' Songs

After dinner last night, HX suddenly played Indecent Obsession’s ‘Fixing A Broken Heart’, a song that my friends and I had sung in Sec 3 during a skit for our prefect seniors’ farewell. I was put in a whimsical mood for the rest of the night. Music has always had that effect on me…and suddenly I was in the mood to listen to all those songs that had been markers of my growing-up years. Songs that have touched me, moved me, inspired me. When I think of these songs now, I can see why they got to me at those different points in my life.

Tommy Page’s ‘Shoulder to Cry On’ touched me when I was wishing for a best friend in primary school (I wanted to be somebody’s shoulder to cry on :P), Whitney Houston’s ‘Greatest Love of All’ gave me confidence when I felt I couldn’t depend on anybody else but myself in Sec 3, and Michael W. Smith’s ‘Friends’ spoke volumes to me when I was graduating from Sec School and feeling nostalgic about going separate ways from my friends. Then, in JC1, when I was going through a period of personal struggle and growth, Gloria Estefan’s ‘Reach’ inspired me.

I listened to these songs till my heart was a little sore from remembering so many bitter-sweet memories. HX has songs from my teens labelled as ‘a tad old oldies’, something I found funny, but also, regretfully, apt. It’s not that I mind growing older…I’m sure the future decades hold endlesss hope and joy even as I know there will be heavier crosses to bear and more difficult lessons to learn. But sometimes I find it hard to believe that those precious days in St. Nicholas Girls’ uniform have been over for more than 10 years. Whenever I go back to visit, I look at the girls, even those in Sec 4, and wonder “They look so young and small…surely I must have looked older than that back then.” But maybe I didn’t…ha ha…after all once upon a time, I really was ‘小恩’. :P