musical moves.

Different season's of life tend toward different soundtracks. South Korea is littered with Bon Iver. Alexi Murdoch traveled with me through DC's buses, trains and streets. These albums, lyrics, and instruments take me back to places I've left. They bring up to the surface my varying states of mind.

While in DC, my most recent excursion, I was most often the odd one out. I remember eating at Black Salt, a fancy sort of fish market, and being put on the spot with the big question from one of the lunch guests. They were just getting to know me, literally, and asked me what I wanted out of life. In between bites of the most delicious burger I have ever had, I answered quite sincerely to be happy. The guest in front of me laughed. This laugh, sourced from confusion and an inability to relate, was the reaction I got more often than not. To her credit, the lady posing the question encouraged me. But her encouragement didn't litter my time there.

Confusion and an inability to relate were much more prevalent, and this norm left me confused too, and doubtful of all the things I had begun to believe, or believe I believed. All the sudden, I wasn't so sure.

This is not the healthiest state of mind. Alexi Murdoch's voice reminds that this troubled state was real; His lyrics and instruments were the like mindedness I was lacking.

Returning to Tulsa wasn't the remedy I was hoping for. I seek more. I want different landscapes, frames of mind, and fresh challenges. The soundtracks remind me that I am not always immediately ready for those things. My life right now is about rebuilding, and it's funny how things tend to just work out.

There is a newness to this season even if my zip code is nearly identical to the one before the last. In the future when I am looking back, the soundtrack I think of, whatever it turns out to be, will remind me of the peaceful stability that's characterizing life these days.

speaking of peaceful stability...