sunset soon forgotten

The concert was insane packed last night. In my old age I only lasted about halfway through but it was nice as Michelle and I chatted from our faraway spot to hear Sam Beam's voice and listen to songs that over and over again sent my brain back to memories scanning the past 5 years. Today I've been running other favorites through my headphones and though most of the youtube videos are dumb (ugh, or Twilight) the memories are all there still.

For the first few months after I got home from my mission I would fall asleep most nights in my mom's bed listening to Iron & Wine. She'd fallen for his dreamy sound and gone to see him with Tasha and Jeanine at Kilby Court the spring before I returned. In my recollection of those first few weeks home again, I think of crawling into my mom's bed, her putting on either The Creek Drank The Cradle or Our Endless Numbered Days and me drifting off peacefully. It was fall and cool and comfortable and I didn't have to be in bed by 10:30pm or awake by 6:30am or report either to anybody and that felt perfect.


By the start of the new year I was living in a house we called The Woodhouse with a bunch of friends. I'm surprised every time I think of that place because I didn't actually live there very long, but I feel like it was a really valuable time for me as far as struggling and learning and growing is concerned. The Trapeze Swinger came out sometime around then on the In Good Company soundtrack. I love a song that clocks in at over 7 minutes and I had just bought my beloved Subaru so coming and going to and from my house, in own first my car, with that song over and over...perfection.

By the time Iron & Wine hooked up with Calexico for In The Reins I had fallen for a boy who was tall and skinny and played the guitar. We lived apart and were unsure of long distance courtship protocol so we spent months sending music back and forth and discussing Sam Beam's songs at length. And for that little while we thought each other practically perfect.

I listened to The Shepard's Dog all the way through for the first time on a run. A friend had given me the album and though I'd sampled here and there, I got to really soak it up running across downtown Salt Lake streets at night. I usually make running playlists full of songs that have a good pace beat, but I got addicted to the album in its entirety. Still when I hear any of it I feel my legs get antsy to go. I know I'm probably not a real runner for being so dependent upon music, but feeling like there is a soundtrack to my movement and breath right in my ears is absolutely perfect.


So I was going to put together a zipped files with 5 or 6 of my favorites...but I couldn't stop there so why not a whole mix? Let me know if you want one.