Takes me back

My pal Kraig sent a message on a WhatsApp group with a link to a Studio Ghibli playlist on Spotify. I put it on this afternoon and left it playing in the background. After a while, the track above started playing and it triggered something in me. I think I'm getting a bit nostalgic because our eldest turns 9 this week and I know all too well the next 12 months will fly by and we'll have been parents for a whole decade which is just incredibly mind-blowing to me. It's gone in a flash.

Anyway, this track instantly transports me to around 2015/16 when our eldest was just a toddler. He used to love watching Sprited Away at bedtime and for a good period of time, we'd watch it every night. I'd often nod off myself and wake up to the credits rolling with Always With Me playing. I remember how the bedroom was laid out, the laptop sitting beside the bed on a small wooden laundry basket (which we used to store clean bedding), how I'd fallen asleep propping my head up, dead arm, hand print on my face and our eldest boy fast asleep with his little curls (which have since grown out) and rosy cheeks.