I probably have Tim to thank for this: sometimes we would be sitting on the couch on a lazy Sunday morning, or walking down the aisle at the grocery store, or whatever the random place, and he would call out a song title. In most cases, the song was one we both new very very well, and in most cases, it was a song from a local band; a band we saw play regularly at one of the rock clubs around Dallas.
One band in particular, Course of Empire, is a personal favorite of mine, and Tim was truly enamored the first time he got to see them. We could easily connect with the high energy, high intensity rock and roll. The music was brilliant, and the live shows were absolutely incredible. We would be so exhausted at the end of each show, but no matter how much beer was consumed (usually a lot), we never felt drunk. It was that kind of show.
In Frankfurt, my friend Mono will occasionally utter a song title while we are standing around having a beer, and a similar feeling hits me: a simple song title can instantly take you to a certain time and place. It is not quite the same with Mono as with Tim, since most of the time the song is from years ago, but both of us are instantly taken back to wherever we happened to be back then. An example might be Blue Monday. Mono was already old enough to be in clubs when he first heard the song, while I was still trying to get through some 8th grade math class. Still, Mono gets it, and understands the power and influence music can have.
These thoughts all entered my head earlier this week when I opened the door to the DHL delivery guy, who was bringing me a new world map that I had ordered on line. New Maps, you see, was a particularly lively song from Course of Empire, and I remember Tim regularly mentioning the song title at least 15 times per week.
I have always liked looking at maps. My grandfather had a world map that covered an entire wall in his basement. I loved that, and always have wanted to get something similar. I found a suitable one for my small apartment in Dallas (albeit considerably smaller that my Grandfather's), but somehow never got around to purchasing a new map for flat in Frankfurt, until this past week.
I am particularly excited about this map (take that as me dancing around my living similar to the way I would behave at a Course of Empire show....if you need a visual, there a few videos posted of COE playing some live gigs) because even though it doesn't cover the full wall in my living room, it is pretty big. And, as an extra little bonus that I didn't realize at the time I was ordering it through Amazon, it comes with some little magnets in two colors. One color is to mark where you have been, and the other is to mark where you want to go. I am still living through the excitement that the map is up on my wall, so haven't even placed any magnets on the map yet.
Each day, I spend a few minutes looking at the map and collecting my thoughts. I am still amazed at where I have been, how far I have come, and that I am now in Germany for 10 years. The word that comes to my mind is unfassbar.
Some 25 years ago, while standing at a COE show, I never imagined that one day I would be standing in the middle of my living room lost in contemplation, cup of coffee in hand, map on the wall, with a little sountrack of COE playing in the background.
I must say, it is a nice start to an early Friday morning.
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