After a lovely weekend visiting Rebecca, who is studying for the bar exam in the Catskills, I took the long way back to New Hampshire, where I'm staying with my folks while she's away. I took a five hour drive through upstate New York and Vermont on a sunny summer afternoon, and I'll tell you it felt just fine.
I wound my way down country roads through the forest, passing town after little town as I went. While I drove, I thought of all the lives lived in each of these places, and imagined living one of them. There are so many ways to build a life, and every little corner of the world describes a different one. As I thought about these possible futures, a tune started to occur to me, so I dictated it into my phone as I drove. What I had when I arrived at my destination were puzzle pieces. All that remained was to piece them together.
lyrics
Driving east through the woods
Every town a setting sun
Imagining which roots could spread out
If we settled in each one
What does it take to build a life?
And what's it mean to build a life?
With all the miles and miles of road behind me
I'm still asking
Why do we say where we're from?
It's a little thing I'm sure
But my blood comes up to see who's asking
And what the question's for
What does a country owe one man?
What is our language fit to tell us?
With all the miles and miles of road behind me
I'm still asking
All the hope inside us
All the trust inside us
All the love inside us
All together