Changing Colors cont’d

As of today, it’s been exactly two months since I’ve left DC to come back to Texas. Since returning to my hometown, I haven’t exactly stayed put.

In the span of those two months, I have (in chronological order): roadtripped up to Oklahoma and back to help a friend move; flew out to Las Vegas for two days for work; went up to small town of Wimberley to go tubing on my birthday; drove up to Austin on a weeknight to see one of my favorite bands perform; flew up to Milwaukee for work and then hitched a ride to Chicago for the following weekend; and am just about to finish a roadtrip up to Dallas that included the last of my work travel and a reunion with college friends.

To some people that’s probably not all that much, some folks travel across the country for a living, and I’m sure there are plenty who would trump me in a frequent flyer/driver miles competition. But for me, this is pretty epic. And along with those travels came some memorable experiences.

Highlights along the way have included: birth of a new baby nephew; lots and lots of Whataburger and breakfast tacos; family gatherings for rosaries, birthdays, births; random illnesses including mild heat exhaustion after playing in an all day beach volleyball tournament and a nasty stomach virus that almost ruined my birthday plans; swinging off of a huge tree swing into a river as friends and family watched; giving the karaoke performance of my life to a room full of strangers helping me sing the chorus to Outkast’s “Mrs. Jackson”; and a wicked jam session with my brother with us playing instruments we barely know how to play.

While the highs have been great, I don’t want to leave out the little things too. Something as small as getting breakfast tacos with coworkers, or coming home after a typical workday to my siblings helping set the table for dinner and nieces and nephews practicing their reading or drawing, or barbacoa on a Sunday morning before church where I spot at least 4 Tony Romo jerseys among the pews. All of these things contribute to the warm and content feeling of being at home. And they’re reassurance for my decision to defer another year before starting med school.

These big moments and little day-to-day memories are compiling themselves into a gap year experience that is somehow both relaxing and intense at the same time. I have the benefit of not having to cram for my first set of anatomy exams like my peers in the first year of schooling across the country, but I also have the self-imposed responsibility to make the most of every day I have until next Fall. After all, this feeling won’t last forever.

In reflecting on the past two months, one recurring thought is just how much things have changed and are changing and will continue to change. This thought, I think, is what led me to put together my Autumn mix. After all, Fall is the season of changes, and even though Texas really doesn’t experience the season, I could still witness it in my travels. I saw trees burn bright orange and yellow along the road from Milwaukee to Chicago. I felt the chill of having to bust out my autumn sweater for the first time in Dallas. The cool Texas mornings that shock me awake as I step out the door to my truck. Heck, even I changed colors a bit thanks to the September sun, but those pigments might be fading again soon. All of these are reminders that it’s no longer summer, that the days will get shorter and colder, and that the world and its people will continue their own rotations and revolutions.

It was that mindset that brought me to put together the Autumn mix. Picking out songs that helped to sum up the sentiment of the natural changes that happen during this time of the year, and how we relate to them.

My family, my friends, even myself are changing. I’m getting older, my family is growing, and my friends are moving on in their own ways. Yet for the first time in a long while since I left for college, I can feel like I’m not just a bystander a thousand miles away from all of the action. I have the chance to be around for all the big events and daily minutiae of my hometown, and I'm getting to take advantage of adventures to other parts of the country to catch up with friends from college and high school. I guess it's true that some change can do you good...

-DR