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My memory jar: Savoring joy in a hectic time

January 01, 2020

Lots of words and thoughts going through my heart, soul, and mind these past three weeks.

Homework. Stress. If I go to sleep right now, how many hours will I sleep? Chocolate chip snacks. Advanced grammar. WHO ARE WE?? GENIES! If I press snooze again, can I efficiently hot roll my hair and do my makeup in fifteen minutes? That early morning run was terrible. Or…that run was nonexistent. LOL. Hair extensions. No washing machines open. MEGAN FOR HOMECOMING QUEEN!!! Literally so lost on this dance. Will people really watch me during Megamix? Exhausted. Joyful. Honest. Blessed!!

Tiger. Tunes. A mess of a thought process for your reading material today, but it’s a very accurate representation of how my mind has been rollin’ through life recently.

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It’s the Sunday before the happiest week of the year. The week little Adeline Goodman has looked forward to every year since 2003. It’s the week that over 600 students will finally race onto JPAC stage to perform their overly practiced show for six minutes and then run off in tears of joy/relief/excitement. The week Ouachita turns into an even more separate world of its own, as alumni upon alumni upon alumni pile into the tiny campus we call home and celebrate the Tiger traditions we all know and love. This time next week, we will have a new reigning Tunes champion and tens of thousands of dollars toward student scholarships. Wow. If ya don’t believe Jesus has his hand in this week, you might need to reconsider, honey.

This Tiger Tunes means the most to me because this Tiger Tunes is my last one to be in. I have the great privilege and honor to serve the Ouachita Student Foundation as assistant director of Tiger Tunes and Tiger Traks, assisting the most perfect director, Jaret Webb! (And Madam President Haley Jo and Mr. Vice President Alec #CoreFourForever, of course.) While they let me be in Tunes for one last year, next year I will be participating in Tunes behind the scenes rather than on stage. (Which, if you ask any of my past/present Tunes directors and choreographers … is probably best.)

All that being said, and definitely not for the purpose of broadcasting my position, this week means the most to me. Never again will I take the stage with fake eyelashes and white Keds. Never again will I cross my fingers that I might be in the winning show. Never again will I run into my sisters with the biggest Tunes face there ever was. All these Tiger Tunes never-agains and silly nostalgias has my heart camped out on all the things I never want to forget.

This state of stretching my tired brain to remember all the special moments in life has made me realize one thing: I should pay more attention to what I’ve held near and dear to my heart and remembered after however many years. Because the things we still hold fast to from the past are sweet representations of what we should hold fast to today.

This big jumble of heart talk and comin’ to Jesus thoughts started with one of the most joyful six minutes I think I’ve ever experienced in my life: the CM Stars reunion. Six glorious minutes of last year’s Campus Ministries Star show crashing the new show, bringing back the black morph suit and hand glued stars and dirty gloves with lipstick stains. We went to our first spots and as soon as that music started twinkling, it was as if I was freshman year Addy – right back to Tunes rehearsal my first month of college. What a lifetime ago. The words and the dances came back as easily as the words to High School Musical comes back to all the Wildcat lovers out there. I left the Tiger Den, wondering how in the world I remembered all that when so much has happened since then.

And then one night, at a VICTORIOUS Badger football game, I was talking to one of my favorite trombone players. He was dressed in his marching overalls, and mid-conversation, he pulled his phone out from the front.

“Wait! How’d you do that?” I asked, amazed and confused.

And then it hit me. The marching overalls have a front pocket, don’t you remember? After three years of wearing those outfits, I had forgotten the most important part of them. The phone pocket! Of course they had a phone pocket. How had I forgotten something that mattered so much back in the day.

Then it got me to thinking. What have I chosen to remember, and what have I chosen to forget?

I’ve forgotten my locker combination. I’ve forgotten my fastest time for the 100 Fly. I’ve forgotten who all was on my homecoming court. I’ve forgotten my ACT score. I’ve forgotten what grade I got on my exegetical.

I remember exactly where everyone was standing in the drum room the day I first walked in as freshman. I remember what I wore my first day of youth group. I remember lying on Cone-Bottoms lawn after our last performance of CM Stars, singing “When You Wish Upon A Star.”

I remember these things, of all things. The things I am holding so tightly to should teach me what moments I’m living now that will mean so much to me later.

And as I’m entering the last week of my career as a Tunes participant, I’m asking Jesus that this thought of mine be put on repeat. I’m going to remember the rush of walking out on stage with my sisters and our hair extensions. The neck hugs. The nerves before Megamix. The deafening screams for whoever takes home the gold! The final total of student scholarships we raise. These are the kind of moments Adeline Goodman has always grabbed and tucked away for safe keeping.

What moments mean the most to you? And are you basking in the joy of these moments? Because JESUS is HANDING them to us! Let’s not harp on the moments and stressors that we’ll eventually forget. Because the moments we’ll remember – those deserve our attention.

Addy GoodmanAddy Goodman is a sophomore English and communications & media major from Arkadelphia, Ark. See the original, full version of this post on her blog, Addytude.


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