It amazes me the way memories can be triggered
The way hearing someone’s voice can make it all rush back
The way you can smell something familiar and picture it all over again
The way a certain song can cause your heart to pound just like it did long ago
The way the touch of a hand can feel as if it never left in the first place

The thing with memories though
You can’t control when they hit you or how hard they hit
You can’t control if they are going to be good memories
Or haunting flashbacks

Hearing someone’s voice has a good and bad affect
You can hear the sweetness of a friend
Or the kind words of a lover echoing in your mind
Or you can be stuck with the cold insults of a bully
Or the manipulation on a past abuser

The same with smell
You could be overcome with a smell of your favorite food
Or perfume of a loved one that always will bring you joy
Or the smell of alcohol that used to radiate from your father
Or the sterile hospital room where you got an unpleasant diagnosis

Music can provide you with so much
It could fill your heart with joy thinking of the first time you saw your favorite show
Or make your cheeks grow red with the thoughts of your first slow dance
Or it could make you think of the one who always sang to you while you were in his backseat holding tears back
Or bring you back to the nights locked in your room blaring a song to prevent you from hurting yourself

The sense of touch is the true enemy
Someone putting their arm around you brings you back to those times when you were first falling in love
Or the encouragement of a friend after your greatest accomplishment
Or a touch of the face can trigger the site of his grip too tight on your jawline
Or the longing he’d just make up his mind already

Memories are both angels and demons
Fighting for the same place in our head
Good memories wish to bring that old joy to our hearts
While the flashbacks leave us numb