“Well I’ve got some scattered pictures lying on my bedroom floor, reminds me of the times we shared…” I’m sitting on a bed, staring at the messy spread of memories that pull at my consciousness. Some of them make me smile involuntarily, silently echoing the laughter in the frame. Some of them make me stare into that space between me and the wall. The space that holds so many moments dancing faintly behind my eyes. The space that makes me remember.

“Open the past and present now and we are there…” Funny how a picture can erase the intervening years without a hitch. It would be nice to be able to go back and see things again, maybe fix what went wrong. I think the line that gets me most is “Story to tell and I am listening”. The memories float by in that daydream space, real enough to see but fleeting enough to slip through my fingers unencumbered. What I wouldn’t give for a pause button. A half second here or there, given the attention it deserved, might make all the difference for the future. I’m not trying to preach. I just think it’s worth it to stop and say the little things that go through your head. Just because, even if they don’t mean anything really, another person ought to know those thoughts exist. So you don’t end up sifting through a flipbook of memories, wishing you hadn’t gone tearing through that instant on your way to something else.

I like “Scattered” because it reminds me that everyone has glitches they’d like to smooth over in their memories. Tiny blank spots like the scratchy pops of an old vinyl record. They can be annoying and sad, but in the end they can be forgiven. You have to trust that if you know most of the story, the missing details will take care of themselves. In a way it’s comforting that you can’t change the past, because it would be exhausting. Maybe getting lost in old pictures now and then is enough. Just to make sure you still remember. Thanks, Green Day, for making me remember.

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