Traveled back to a place I consider "home" this past Labor Day weekend. Home in a loose sense, because the town I visited was a good 3-4 hour trip from where I grew up. Nowadays it seems like any expanse of flat farmland with the wide sky above me feels familiar.
My good friend Riley got married over the summer. He and his wife Mae decided to celebrate with family and friends in Mattoon, IL and so I hopped on a plane to join them. I love weddings. People show up from all different parts of a couple's life. Extended family, church folk, hometown characters, etc. I had a good time seeing through other's eyes what I had or hadn't seen for myself while living with Riley for three years in college. It felt great to be amongst a warm crowd of people gathered under one roof to celebrate the perfect pair. I also had fun giving a short-but-sweet toast right after the cake cutting. A few laughed at my opening line, "This is a roast, not a toast." I thought it was funny..
I had some time to reflect on the trip, too. I haven't quite started my doctoral program yet and so I'm going through a little bit of hamster-wheel syndrome. I've applied to some jobs and worked part time for a music store, but it's really not much. Most of my days since moving to Tallahassee have been spent setting up our new place, applying for jobs, and practicing. I shouldn't really complain, because I have not had this much free practice time in months. It's just that the last two years of Grad School have been so fast paced that I'm not used to having so much time to myself. Woe is me!
The thing I craved I now crave not.
I ponder, pray, and still have thought
that time to me has finally brought
the thing itself, alas, unsought.
- g.s. coverdale
