Etched in Memory - Alto's Adventure, Switzerland, and My Daughter
Just about every night, while my wife Cynthia readies for bed, I lay down and play Alto’s Adventure on my phone for 7 minutes and 28 seconds. What’s Alto’s Adventure, and why 7 minutes and 28 seconds?
Alto’s Adventure is a procedurally generated and continuously scrolling snowboarding game. In the game, there is something called Zen Mode, where you can fall, run into rocks, plunge into a precipice, and your character will pop right back up and keep going. Zen mode can continue on forever, but the music, the beautiful, enchanting and calming music takes 7 minutes and 28 seconds to play through one time.
Why do I bring this up, and why do I play so often? Playing this game before bed, in Zen Mode, with that song, has served to calm my mind many times. Each time I play, I admire the sun rise and fall behind snowcapped mountains while I flip over sleepy villages and gaping chasms. It reminds me of Switzerland every night. It reminds me what a special trip that was, and makes me want to go back each time.
This phenomenon got me thinking about how games or songs can instantly transport us back to a place, a memory, a journey, an entire time-period in our lives. The Zen Mode song takes me to a time in 2018 when both Cynthia and I wanted to get away. With our 10th anniversary in the not-too-distant horizon, we decided to take the trip Cynthia had been wanting to do for years, with only three weeks of planning. This was a vast departure for us, as we usually have a lead time of at least three months or more before going on a trip.
The Zen Mode song reminds me of virtually disappearing into Europe, with only a few people knowing where we were. It reminds me of watching breathtaking vistas from various trains. It reminds me of hiking along mountains and lakes. It reminds me of the food. It reminds me of walking around Zermatt, Luzern, St. Moritz, and Lugano.
When I first started writing this piece, it was about the connection of the Zen Mode song to Switzerland. Now though, the Zen Mode song holds even greater significance - it’s tied to the first night I spent with my daughter and several nights after that. Why?
Each night I played Alto’s Adventure, my pregnant wife and unborn daughter were right next to me, enjoying the Zen Mode song right before bed. In my mind, I felt like I was Pavlov(ing) them to sleep.
Luna was born about a month early, but thankfully strong and healthy. Still, she was itty bitty (a name I still call her by). Cynthia and I were flung into parenthood early; were we ready? Were we prepared for this watershed moment in our lives?
As the sun set on that first day together as a new family, Cynthia was exhausted, and it was up to me to console a crying baby to sleep. I cradled her in my arms and brought her to the recliner with me; there I went to my go-to – I played the Alto’s Adventure Zen Mode song. Almost immediately, the crying ceased, and slowly her eyes closed, and she drifted away to sleep. The song played on a loop, and there in the darkness of that hospital room, I watched my daughter sleep for the first time – those moments indelibly etched into my memory.
Once we brought her home, there were a few nights where Luna was inconsolable. So I’d get up from the bed and take her into the living room, opening the blinds to watch the city lights in the darkness. I’d rest her against me and play the Zen Mode song, and each time, she’d fall asleep. It would be a bit until I’d go back to bed – I’d sit there in the recliner with her and enjoy the peaceful calm of the night with no sound except the song.
The Alto’s Adventure Zen Mode song is 7 minutes and 28 seconds. Still, that song is fused with beautiful memories, memories of far off places, and adventurous travel, but even more significant than that, it now brings up memories of our first night with Luna and moments when it was just her and I in a recliner getting used to one another.
Music is a big part of my relationship with Luna; I dance with her every single day.
It all started with Zen Mode.
