I sat at my desk in my college dorm room and logged into my parents’ old Amazon music account. I scrolled through the dozens of playlists I had made when I was in middle school, titled things like “The Best Summer Playlist Ever” or “Feeling Moody.” These were songs that I would listen to for hours on end while I sat on my pink swivel chair underneath my loft bed and did my homework until dark. Those were the days. But honestly, things really haven’t changed much since then.
I kept scrolling and found a playlist titled “Joe’s Playlist.” Joe is my dad. My dad is the kind of guy who loves the classics. When he was younger he was kind of a metalhead. He has some slight hearing loss now to show for the years of heavy metal concerts, or maybe it was because of the years spent on construction sites where he never wore ear protection. Either way, this isn’t really the dad I grew up with. By the time that I could remember things, my dad didn’t really play heavy metal for my brother and I, especially me, his only daughter.
Instead, I adopted my music taste from my mom. Little did she know that every time she played Colbie Caillat in the car I would listen to every single word from the backseat. Her favorite song was “Bubbly.” It was my favorite song too.
“Bubbly” is a love song from the album “Coco” that came out in 2007 and pretty much put Colbie Caillat on the map as an R&B/soul/pop artist in the early 2000s. Her album contained tracks that spoke not only to romantic love but also to self love. She artfully articulated the feelings that many of us have but that we can never truly put into words.
My mom and I would listen to her album pretty much anytime we were running errands or driving to school. We would sing “Bubbly” at the top of our lungs and would always wait for it to finish before we got out of the car. It is one of the fondest memories of my childhood. If there were a collection of songs that perfectly represents nostalgia for me, it would be these.
When I was younger, I never understood love songs. At least, I could never apply them to myself. I had never experienced the kind of love they sang about, I could only dream about it. The only experiences I had with love were the kind my parents showed to one another and the kind they showed to me. When I listen to love songs like “Bubbly” now, they hit a little bit differently. But, they still remind me of when I was seven and daydreaming about finding “the one.”
My parents had known one another since they were kids but were “sworn enemies” after the fifth grade, as my dad always says when he tells the story. But they reconnected after high school at a gas station when they were 19 and have been inseparable ever since. I heard the story of my parents falling in love a million times growing up and I always knew that I wanted a story like that too. Songs like “Bubbly” reminded me that I wanted the kind of love that was safe and warm on a rainy day. I wanted a love that gave me butterflies, so much that it made me crinkle my nose.
It’s almost funny how universal the feeling of love is for people. No matter where you live or how old you are, you’re going to find it. Love is timeless. I was very blessed to have seen this modeled for me in my home. My parents showed it in the way that they stood by one another through trials and the way that they never stopped dating, even after they were married. They have always been one another’s best friend.
But it’s different thinking about the love your parents have for one another when you’re a kid compared to when you’re 19 — the same age when they decided they didn’t need to meet anyone else.
It’s crazy to think about this, and when I think too hard, my head starts to spin. When you’re an adult, you realize that love is more than just having a fairytale ending or finding your prince charming. Love is about perseverance. Love is about steadfastness. Love is about selflessness.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”
This is the type of love that 1 Corinthians talks about.
Now, every time I listen to “Bubbly” and think about my parents’ love, I realize it is more than just emotions and feelings. It’s more than just dating the person that you think is cute. It’s finding the person who stands by you when the storms are fierce and the winds do everything in their power to knock you over.
But Caillat is also right when she says that love will make you feel like a child. When I was a child, that feeling was in the arms of the two people that loved me with the only kind that I knew at the time. I was safe. I was warm and I was protected from the storm that was outside the window. They tucked me in. They held me tight. They never let go. They did this for me, but they also did this for one another. Their love is one that I will always strive to obtain.
So, “Bubbly” is the song that I listen to when I want to remember what it must have been like for my parents to fall in love when they were my age. It’s the song that I listen to when I think about my future. If my mom played it every time we got in the car, she must have seen some truth in it. It must have resonated with her. Looking back, I also see the truth in it. And as I grow up and have a family of my own, I want it to resonate with me too.
