"When you think about me, do you think about 17?"

There's a song out right now that I just love. It's so good and so memory inducing and is one song that, surprisingly, doesn't remind me of W. In fact, it reminds me of quite the opposite. It reminds me of Robbie, my first, real, boyfriend.
It's funny because I really haven't thought about him for a while and besides there really hasn't been any reason for me to think about him anyway. My life has changed so drastically since he was in it as I was 17 when his name filled the pages of my journal.
Oh being 17! It was such a brilliant age and time in my life. I was preparing to graduate high school, I had the best group of friends that had been with me all my teenage years. I felt so grown, so free, and I was sitting on the edge of the rest of my life. My world was about to change drastically because I would soon be Idaho bound.
Up to that point in my life I hadn't officially had a boyfriend. I wasn't looking for one or expecting to get one until I started college. But don't great things always happen when you least expect it?
Robbie was know as the "hot guy that worked at my feed store". He had been working there for 6 months and all the contact I had really had with him was when he was carrying my feed out to my car. I would have never, EVER, guessed in a million years that he would have been interested in me but one day in May I was proved wrong. Robbie asked for my number after loading a couple bags of sweet feed into my trunk.
Everything after that seemed to happen so fast. We had our first date and then our second date in the same day and the next thing I knew he was participating in everything I did and everything my family did. I had never in my life felt better or had more fun. Everyone loved him, everyone enjoyed his company, everyone thought he was great. Because he was. He was perfect for the 17 year old me. But I didn't stay 17 forever and I moved on. And it was painful because I moved on before he did. It was hard to go from having a constant friend and companion to being alone again but it was harder to be the one to end it. It was hard to hurt him when he had done nothing but be his wonderful self.
Life marched on splendidly and that little wound healed. That age and time in my life passed and I have grown up and changed in many ways. My world right now feels nearly perfect and I love being a 20 year old  junior in college. However, the song "Springsteen" by Eric Church hits me in my heart where my 17 year old self still has special place and I can't help but fondly think about Robbie and that cherished time of my life when the notes of that song come on the radio.
So now you know what I think about when I think about 17.

Here's to 17 and Robbie and great memories and great music!

"It's funny how a melody sounds like a memory, like the soundtrack to a July, Saturday night..."

-Eric Church