Two Roads Diverged In A Yellow Wood

Top, skirt (similar): Forever 21; Shoes: Macy's

When I put this outfit on for work the other day, I distinctly thought of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken." I have no idea why, but it came to me in the early morning hours waiting for my carpool, and I haven't been able to get the first few lines out of my head since. Some things, phrases, memories, images, stick with you as time passes and, almost like muscle memory, my brain brings them out to ponder over as time passes. I recall reading Robert Frost's poem for so many english classes (I always loved poetry), on my own, writing essays about it, and even revisiting it in college years in anthologies. It brought back a host of memorization and english class memories that I haven't been able to store back away, yet.

My elementary through high school years are largely a blur now with some key photo-style memories sticking out. I honestly can't remember the sounds of high school, the smells, or the emotions very well. They seem distant and hazy. But I do have those little key snippets that have come to represent the grades and years: I can remember my favorite Brainteaser game and the dinosaur erasers that were given out as prizes in kindergarten in the dim (lights off at lunch) classroom. I remember wearing a shirt (that was too long for me) and khaki shorts to fifth grade one day and everyone teasing me that I wasn't wearing any pants. Teach me to take fashion risks! I think I've blocked out the majority of middle school, but I do distinctly recall remember wearing one of those shrunken tank tops (do you guys remember those? They were about the size of baby clothes and stretched to fit!) and feeling really awkward in my entering-puberty and not knowing what to do with my limbs phase. I remember listening to the Mars Volta on the sidewalk outside of E-building with friends on the first classic iPods and wearing my Snow Patrol shirt until the printing wore off in high school. 

Do you ever feel like you've flown through time, leaving all of these memories, these exquisite feelings and experiences behind, with bizarre little snippets in place of them? It's kinda crazy to grow up.