Subtleties & huge effects.

      This is such an odd story, but it really affected me. Here goes:
I was watching an episode of Spongebob Squarepants: Survival of the Idiots. I wasn't too into it, so I got up to pour myself a cup of coffee. I could still hear the TV from the kitchen, but I wasn't paying much attention. Then all of a sudden, Spongebob and Patrick walked into Sandy's tree dome to find a snowy wonderland, and I heard a beautiful melody:

Mantovani's "Skater's Waltz"

I froze.
It was the song my mother hummed whenever we danced around the kitchen. She always said she couldn't remember the name of the song, but she thought it was pretty. We would spin in circles and hum this song, and every time at the very end, she would adorably squeak the word "Dip!" and dipped me like we were waltzing, then said "Kiss!" and we'd hug kiss each other on the cheek, and then we'd part ways wearing smiles on our faces.

      Never having known what the song was called, and never having heard it outside my mother's beautiful voice, I was overwhelmed, wondering if I could ever hear it again. I opened my laptop and searched for the episode's transcript to find that the song is called "Skater's Waltz" by Mantovani. I listened to it online and immediately sobbed. Being a good photographer, I also opened the Photo Booth application on my laptop and captured my face just as my mascara smudged.

kiss kiss | hug hug | love love