The school's bus arrives between 7:45 and 7:50 each day, pulling up to the edge of the curb as I stand there chatting with Adam. My colleagues arrive around that time, too, rushing towards the stiffly opening bus doors that always seem like they're this close to succeeding in their clear goal of staying peacefully shut forever. We are slow in the mornings. We exchange a few pleasantries, some of us settling in to our phones right away, some of us keeping an eye on the apartment door for any last-minute stragglers who sometimes come barreling down the stairs.
I settle into my music when the bus takes off from the curb. Sometimes I listen to old favorites; sometimes I have downloaded some new album to serenade me to school. Mostly, though, I listen to my own playlists made for different moods and activities. The one that pops up first due to constant use is titled "Travel Tunes". And not to brag too hard, but it's pretty decent. (I tested it out on some unwitting souls this break, and was gratified with every, "Oh, this is a good song!" I got. But that's beside the point.)
This playlist starts with the song "Forever" from Mumford and Sons' 2018 album, Delta. If you haven't heard it, here it is. I love it.
Lyrical and full of those harmonious chords that make me love this band so much, "Forever" is an honest love song that also deals with personal growth, homesickness, and a growing love for a new home.
The pre-chorus is about romantic love, yes, but also about the type of personal growth that makes you proud and ready to keep it at all costs.
"So if you doubt for the time that you're spending And if you doubt for the love in your heart Think of London and the girl you're returning And the days you defend will turn to gold"
Lovely and powerful, but it's the bridge that really gets me:
"I was dreaming of the Liffey I was thinking of the Thames And now the East River flows by to the same end Are we too sentimental to not look back and stare?"
The Liffey and Thames are rivers in Ireland and Britain, and the East River flows through New York City. All eventually flow out to the Atlantic Ocean.
I could write my own version of this bridge (although rivers would not be an appropriate metaphor in desert-adjacent, landlocked Marrakech!):
"I was dreaming of the Berkshires
I was thinking of the Whites*
And now the Atlas Mountains rise up to the same sky
Are we too sentimental to not look up and sigh?"
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*shortened name for the White Mountain range in New Hampshire
In short, this blog post that is more free writing than anything else is about the things we love about the places we love. I love the mountains; I always have. Morocco is not the same as my childhood home, but it has mountains. Marrakech is not Boston, but it is becoming my new home.
These are the thoughts that fill my mind as the bus lumbers on to my school. In twenty-five minutes, a single song can launch me on a thought train that helps me realize that I love this place I am living in. Don't get me wrong, not every bus ride is like the one I just took you on, but each bus ride does give me time to sit and muse on whatever the music decides to serve up that morning. I love that I get to listen to it.
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