Alone at a Concert

It is winter here. The Pass has closed the last two afternoons due to car wrecks and flying snow. How did autumn disappear so quickly? Jamie hiked Mt. Glory yesterday and the snow was up to his thighs. Olive couldn't keep up with him because there was nothing to stand on, only partially frozen, unsteady ground. And then this afternoon he got called out on a Search and Rescue mission to find a stranded girl on Mt. Glory. Who is up there already? Hopefully she didn't have skis with her.

I was going to surprise him this evening with an Erica Wheeler concert up at Dornans. I ended up going by myself because I couldn't find anyone to go last minute, who wanted to venture out on a cold, icy night to travel the twenty minutes up to Moose. Erica was wonderful though, so soulful and folky and meaningful in her songwriting. She lives in New England and has a feeling that reminds me of college for some reason, maybe hinting at Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco. She sings a lot about place and connection to it, and about the intricacies of nature.

The thing about sitting and listening to music by yourself is that you only have you to convey your thoughts to. I was reminded of Julia Camerons prompting in The Artist Way to take art dates with yourself. There is great merit in this act for sure. I thought about my place here in this valley, how I have carved a nitch for myself, and also about my other home that feels so far away most of the time: Maine. And about how they are both such powerful spots for me, and how lucky I am to have found them, one as a child, and one as an adult, or at least a grown up child. I missed Jamie.  I wished that he had been sitting next to me. But I am glad that I went, if alone, and I need to make it more of a habit in the future to ride solo.