2003 by Atlas Cries

A few weeks ago when I returned to my parents’ house before moving again soon, my mom asked me to sort through my old stuff to decide what we could get rid of and what we should store. I pulled a box of stuffed animals out of my closet and opened it, I hadn’t seen most of them for nearly 20 years. Memories of sleeping with these stuffed animals and getting them as presents flooded my mind. Seeing all of them sitting in a plastic box that hasn’t been opened in 15+ years, faced with the idea of getting rid of any of them just absolutely broke me. I broke down crying for almost an hour, unlike nothing I’ve ever felt before. I’ve always had an unusually strong sentimental attachment to objects like toys, clothes, and anything from my childhood, even more so than my attachment to a lot of people. I have great memories attached to these items; being only a few years old, everything is brand new and exciting, I’m at the most innocent and naive stage in my life. As long as my mom or dad could hug me, nothing could stop me, the most important thing I had to worry about was picking out what juice box I was going to drink and what toy I wanted. The fact that I will never be able to be that innocent and experience how life was as a toddler is crushing to me, which is why I latch on to anything that can remind me of those times as hard as I can. This album is about my childhood, how carefree and happy I was, before I had any problems or anything to hold me back, before my innocence was spoiled, when everything was new and exciting. This is the best I can do to replicate these emotions and hopefully help these incredible memories live on forever. - Atlas Cries