I have already shared my love of Bon Iver on this blog. However, I keep coming back to the music. Their lyrics and simple sound just fit with many varied situations. At times, I can't help but think that the music is perfect winter music. Yet it also works so perfectly in summer.
Anyways, the reason for this blabbering is that I listened to a lot of Bon Iver when I was road tripping around Minnesota last summer. However, one specific moment stands out and every time I hear the song "Re: Stacks," I remember.
I remember driving with my sister's family from a hot day full of parades, the Amish, country roads, and field after field; to the farm where we camped. We had walked around looking at the old barn, exploring some of the paths that led to the ravine and the old, rusting cars. We were tired. We were hot. The boys were getting crabby.
So we piled back into my car. My road trip mix was on, and Bon Iver played once more. We drove down the bumpy dirt road through the fields of endless corn that stretched up from the ground to taste the cooler air above the heat trapped by their leaves.
It was that hour between late afternoon and early evening when the sun was getting low in the sky. It cast its amber light across that small farm in Southeastern Minnesota and it lit up my world at that moment.
The boys were quiet in their seats - no more whine. No more fuss. I drove slowly to keep from bumping too much, but more to preserve this moment in my head. I knew at that moment that when things got difficult in a foreign land, and when I missed my family, that I would look back on that moment and remember.
In all my time in Nigeria, I have never had a moment where I wanted to drop everything and simply be home for good. But there have been so many times when a late afternoon car ride through a corn field with Bon Iver and the people I love would mean the world to me.
I know it's a cliched saying, but that doesn't make it any less true. Sometimes you don't really appreciate the things that you have until they are gone.
Thoughts of a young ex-pat teacher.
3 comments:
Warren... What a great post!! I am so glad you had such a good time despite all the crabbiness! We really enjoyed that time also and think of it often. We will HAVE to go again this summer! We will plan better this time and there won't be such tiny babies! ;) We think of you often and pray for you each time God brings you to mind. Ely and Caleb are here today playing and we sponge painted some hearts. I know they miss you and love you s much! Leann was just sharing how much she misses you with me last night. You are very loved and God is so good to provide the memories when you need them! Keep on persevering and we can relax this summer and hear all your stories!
Ditto to what Heather said. There is something blessed about farm country and "the farm."
Warren, what a beautiful post! It is so funny that this simple memory is frozen in our memories also! We miss you so much! It is hard to hear that you are going to China and won't be able to come home . . . very hard. But God is working through you and your willingness to serve in tough places! We will always support you! We are all looking so forward to this summer!!!! Knife river beach, bike rides, cold Lake Superior water, kayaking, camping, hiking at Gooseberry and Temperance, picnics down at the breakwall, finding funny You Tube videos!!! So much to look forward to. We all love you!
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