I spent Saturday afternoon helping Ms. Lea with post-move cleaning. When I got there, it was warm and the sun was shining, so I took a few photos. The large granite rocks flank one side of the path to the pond, which is just visible at the base of the left-most tree.
As I was driving out to Owen County, I listened to Lloyd Cole’s Easy Pieces. Music is closely linked to many of my memories; I can place when things happened in my life by the music I was listening to at the time. So, as I was driving, I was reminded of listening to Lloyd Cole on my Walkman while detailing the interior of a neighbor’s ancient VW Microbus. As Why I Love Country Music played, the memory of scrubbing the seats with Lysol Tub & Tile cleaner and a toothbrush was so clear and immediate that I could smell the cleaner and see the stitches and the rolled bit of red piping along the edges of the white vinyl seats. Scrub, scrub, scrub as years of dirt and grime were lifted and washed away. Jane is always fine… Brand New Friend played as I washed the interior of the windshield with vinegar and a crumpled piece of newspaper. Polish, polish, polish away the streaks, while Lloyd sings about walking in the pouring rain with Jesus and Jane. She tells lies most of the time…
Of course, I also thought of Jayne, who introduced me to Lloyd Cole (and to Nick Cave, actually) when we were in high school, and I wondered where she is and what she’s up to. Jayne was not always an easy person for me deal with–we’re very different personalities–but she had a huge and positive impact on my life. I find that I have occasion to think about her frequently, and to hope that she’s doing well. I worry about her, though.
So I guess this post is a reminder to be glad of those little moments that don’t seem meaningful, because you cannot predict which ones you’ll look back on and identify as small events and which you will recognize as important ones, or when or how you’ll remember those moments.
red paper boat 