Two extraordinary happenings this week

Two extraordinary things happened this week, both involving music.

The first was attending the Fiddler's Convention. I went not expecting anything in particular but ended up having a great time. I felt like I knew half the people there. I saw people from my part-time job, people from the garden where I volunteer, people from the jam session, and people from the Irish session. My favorite "local" Celtic band, Molly's Revenge, was playing. A special guest performed and it turned out all her music sounded really familiar so I went home and it turned out I had a couple of her albums. So many days while hiking the PCT I thought of how much I missed playing music in the park and at the session and the people from the various things I do and here they all were all together. It seemed kind of like magic. A reminder of all the things I missed about home while on the trail.

The second extraordinary thing was attending the Irish session last night. It was a particularly good time. The new organizer is the best thing to happen to the session. He has invited his friends and students so there were people to play with us and people to listen. There was even a woman with Scottish bagpipes. Wow! Those are loud!

So many times I would be hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail and an Irish tune would start playing in my head. Sometimes I could not remember the whole tune and I would wrack my brain trying to get myself to remember. Last night at the session they played some of those tunes and it was like having an instant flashback to the trail. I could see in my mind the place on the trail when the tune was in my head, a clear and perfect memory. The Rambling Pitchfork while coming down from Mt. Jefferson in Oregon was one of these visions. A reminder of moments on the trail, good times I miss about the trail.

The trail has been such a big part of my life. It is sad that it is over. But I have the memories. Even if I can never find another good job and have to make do with a cardboard sign, I will always have the memories.