There are some childhood memories that remain with us long after we have grown up. Not because we consciously revisit them, but because something brings them back: a familiar place, smell, a sound, and of course, a song.

For Ashante, “Rain” by SWV is connected to a memory of childhood, friendship, and devastating loss. It is a song that takes her back to a time when three children she knew were suddenly no longer there.

This episode is not only about what happened, but about what remains with us afterward. About childhood experiences we may not have had the words to understand at the time, and the people we carry with us long after they are gone. Some losses belong to a particular moment in time. Others become part of the person we grow into.

#Nostalgia… #MusicandMemory.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4G1qRhOk1YY0kewtMaCrMC

Feel free to reach out and share your own music + memory

Instagram: @reminchords

Email: reminchords@gmail.com

What would you say if you could sit beside the person you used to be?

Maybe you'd tell them they were going to be okay, to trust themselves more. Maybe you'd simply sit beside them and let them know they weren't alone.

For my birthday, I'm doing just that.

I'm taking a walk through some of my own memories and meeting the different versions of myself along the way. There are things I wish I could have told them, things I understand differently now, and songs that help me say what words sometimes can't.

As you listen, I hope you find yourself thinking about your own younger selves too.

The girl or boy who didn't know what was coming. The young person who was simply trying to figure things out. The version of you who made choices with the understanding they had at the time.

This isn't about having all the answers now. It's about looking back with more understanding and compassion and wondering what might happen if we offered our younger selves the same grace we hope to receive from others.

#Nostalgia… #MusicandMemory.

https://open.spotify.com/track/65B1tEOv5W294uCKbmEcFV?autoplay_ok=1

https://open.spotify.com/track/3U5JVgI2x4rDyHGObzJfNf

https://open.spotify.com/track/7mVV7fepIMUAE4FDyihupV

https://open.spotify.com/track/2vG1yrWSMiL6egg6w4e9ma?autoplay_ok=1

https://open.spotify.com/track/30SCXVFyQGOFMdKnbgJS18

https://open.spotify.com/track/3HXdy2r9RzawSwqQCwkjnP

Feel free to reach out and share your own music + memory

Instagram: @reminchords

Email: reminchords@gmail.com

We rarely recognize the exact second our lives pivot. We carry entire futures in our heads long before our feet know how to walk toward them, dragging the weight of unanswered questions through familiar streets, wondering if the life we are surviving is all we will ever get.

In this episode, Dante’s story reflects on the night he stopped waiting for his life to change and finally realized he had to change it himself, transforming a fleeting moment of musical grace into a cross-border journey of self-discovery, resilience, and hard-won peace.

#Nostalgia… #MusicandMemory.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2igwFfvr1OAGX9SKDCPBwO?autoplay_ok=1

Feel free to reach out and share your own music + memory

Instagram: @reminchords

Email: reminchords@gmail.com

There are moments in life that don't announce themselves as turning points. They are disguised as ordinary days, ordinary conversations, ordinary routines. We move through them believing everything is as it has always been, until one small detail refuses to settle where it belongs.

This episode is about the moments that don't explode but unfold. The ones built from subtle shifts, unanswered feelings, and the realization that the life you've been living is no longer the life you thought it was.

It is also a story about choosing peace over certainty, self-respect over explanation, and moving forward without waiting for the perfect ending.

One unfamiliar track showing up on a shared music playlist became the first clue that something wasn't right. What followed wasn't one dramatic discovery, but a series of moments that slowly revealed a truth Tomi could no longer ignore.

#Nostalgia… #MusicandMemory.

https://open.spotify.com/track/5Ihd9HrPvOADyVoonH9ZjB

Feel free to reach out and share your own music + memory

Instagram: @reminchords

Email: reminchords@gmail.com

Some memories transform with time.

What once felt impossible can become the story that makes you laugh the hardest years later.

In this episode, Bello and I revisit a season that demanded resilience, resourcefulness, and more courage than either of us realized at the time.

Together, we reflected on growing up, the unexpected ways hardship shapes us, and why some of life's most unforgettable moments only reveal their meaning in hindsight.

As I reflected on Bello's stories, I found myself thinking about "Keep On Keepin' On," the 1996 collaboration between MC Lyte and Xscape. It's a song about perseverance; about finding the strength to keep moving forward, even when the road feels unfair. In many ways, it became the perfect soundtrack for the memories I shared in this episode.

Sometimes, the memories that stay with us aren't the happiest ones, they're the ones that remind us how much we've overcome.

#Nostalgia… #MusicandMemory.

https://open.spotify.com/track/42aZFX1bcCDj75ue0KoNSd?autoplay_ok=1

Feel free to reach out and share your own music + memory

Instagram: @reminchordsEmail: reminchords@gmail.com

Some memories make us laugh now, even if they once made us want to disappear.

There are summers that live inside you forever. Not because anything extraordinary happened, but because ordinary moments somehow became sacred. The smell of sunscreen and chlorine. Music drifting from old speakers. The feeling that your whole life could change over the course of an afternoon. The unbearable weight of wanting to be noticed and the terrifying possibility that you actually might be.

This episode takes us back to one of those summers. Back to the awkward years, when bravery and foolishness often looked exactly the same and every risk felt enormous.It's a story about growing up, but also about looking back with tenderness at the people we once were – the insecure, hopeful, messy versions of ourselves who stumbled through life long before we learned how to hide our fears.

If you've ever looked back at your younger self with equal parts embarrassment and affection, I think this story will feel like coming home.

#Nostalgia…#MusicandMemory.

Tap the link to listen to the song:

https://open.spotify.com/track/1KGi9sZVMeszgZOWivFpxs

Feel free to reach out and share your own music + memory

Instagram: @reminchords

Email: reminchords@gmail.com

What happens when someone living with dementia hears the song that is truly theirs?

In this episode, I sit down with Justin from Music & Memory – a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing personalized music to people living with dementia, Alzheimer's, and other cognitive challenges. What unfolds is a conversation about the extraordinary power of music to reach people in ways that medicine alone simply cannot.

We talk about the moments caregivers and families witness when a loved one who has seemed unreachable suddenly comes alive: present, emotional, and connected, all because of a song. We also explore something surprising – how personalized music can even impact appetite and diet in people living with dementia.

And in true Reminiscence in Chords fashion, Justin shares the song that holds a powerful personal memory for him – Sunshine on My Shoulders by John Denver and takes ussomewhere unexpected with it.

Whether you are a caregiver, a music lover, or someone who has watched dementia take someone you love, this conversation will give you something to hold onto.

#Nostalgia… #MusicandMemory.

https://musicandmemory.org/about/

Tap the link to listen to the song:

https://open.spotify.com/track/3m8lTUL5GxGUNSaycI77ND

Feel free to reach out and share your own music + memory

Instagram: @reminchords

Email: reminchords@gmail.com

There’s a particular kind of heartbreak that comes from realizing you finally opened your heart when there was no one left to receive it. This episode sits in that space, where pride dissolves, clarity arrives, and absence speaks louder than words ever did.

It reflects on emotional hesitation, missed timing, and the way awareness sometimes arrives too late to change the outcome.

A reflective and nostalgic listen about emotional readiness, and the human tendency to recognize love only in its absence.

#Nostalgia… #MusicandMemory.

Tap the link to listen to the song:

https://open.spotify.com/track/3M7Ab3IGSb7vNoLWqDbXVF

Feel free to reach out and share your own music + memory

Instagram: @reminchords

Email: reminchords@gmail.com