“Wag mong ilipat!” my mother exclaimed with glee while I was radio station surfing one night in 1997. We were having some chit chat after dinner then, with the FM radio as our background music.

“That was sung by [I forgot the artist]. That was [I forgot the exact year as well]. I was in college,” she said nostalgically. “But that was one of my least favorite songs back then.”

Her last statement puzzled me. How could she enjoy listening to music that she once never liked? We both had no issues with 90′s music. In fact, like me, she listened to Spice Girls, and even noted that Victoria was her favorite Spice Girl.

So I wondered: Why would she want the radio tuned in to some old song that she didn’t fancy when she was young over some rockin’ 90′s song that we’d both like?

Curious and confused, I asked her, “Ma, why do you like listening to old songs?”

She chuckled as if I asked a stupid question. I didn’t mind and just waited for her to enlighten me.

“It reminds you of your childhood,” she explained. “It brings back memories.”

“Pag tanda ko din kaya, ganun din ako?” the silly 13-year-old girl that I was asked.  My mother laughed at my thinking-out-loud moment.

Fast forward to 2011 and in one of those random days, Jars of Clay’s Unforgetful You  started playing in my iPod shuffle. The song reminded me of how carefree and how fun being young is.

If I had an MP3 player back in high school, I wouldn’t have that song in my favorites’ list. But today, as I listen to it, I relish every drum beat and every note. I remember our stereo system, where it used to play. I remember the CD . I remember the problems I faced as a teenager. Today, it dawns on me that they were miniscule compared with my late 20′s problems. And it dawns on me that there are certain things that you’d only understand as you get older–like how nostalgic it is to listen to songs of our childhood.