Like a few other entries in Songs Of Summer, I’m not sure if Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” actually came out in the summer or not, but I have a very distinct summer memory of the song. See, after graduating from college I went back to Toledo and spent a few months hanging around with my friends, drinking, playing Halo and working at Barry’s Bagel Shop. My friends had a house that I would go over and hang out at, which meant I spent a lot of time in the car late at night driving from their house back to my parents’ listening to the radio (the car I was driving only had a tape player).

I should probably lose every bit of credibility I’ve ever had for what I’m about to say, but Mariah Carey knows how to sing the shit out of a song and she sure does that on “We Belong Together.” I know the song’s about a break-up and everything, but it still made me think of the future missus who was living in New Hampshire (for the geographically challenged that’s a long ass distance there between NH and Ohio). I’m not sure if there’s anything quite like that feeling of useless craziness between graduating from college and getting your first real job, but I was feeling that pretty intensely for a few months until October when I got the call about an opening at Wizard. Everything changed after that, but this song still reminds me of driving through the after-midnight streets of Toledo, driving past the mall and the flashing yellow street lights, missing my lady. For the record, she still makes fun of me for buying this song on iTunes and knowing all the words, so that’s what sentimentality gets you.