Fires, Music, and Adventure

I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around some thoughts. Like if I were back home in the states I’d be starting college in a few short days, and as a result the summer is quickly winding down to a close. Or even that I’ll be away from home for the next year, doing something different from the other avenues that I’ve been walking down my whole life. It can be a little intimidating and frightening at first. You feel the knots in your stomach begin to twist and turn. But really at the end of the day it’s a breath of fresh air, and the promise of adventure. Adventure that’s lurking all around you, just waiting to be had and found.

Needless to say these last few weeks have not been devoid of adventure in the slightest. I’ve been enjoying one of my favorite batches of people who I’ve encountered in a long time. People who bring passion and flavor from all around the world, from Belgium to Argentina. It’s a group of travelers through and through. People who are mad for life, always wanting and willing to make the next night better than the one before. Never tiring, or never giving in to some of lives simpler demands.

Jamming has become a regiment of our nightly routine. Martin, our Argentinian man who has soul pouring off of him in every form and fashion dances around the neck of his guitar, making it howl and sing into the night, while the djembe has begun to infect my soul with a new passion. An instrument I’ve always longed to play, but never had the proper chance to has finally found its way into my hands and heart. Oh and what a pair we’ve made with Martin. Him leading the way with his melodies and blues on into the night, never relenting and always shoveling more and more wonder into you.

A few nights ago we even got to add a few people in on the festivities. A trio of french hitchhiker had found their way onto our land and pitched their tent in some far off corner, but managed to find their way to our company before our nightly processions had begun. A welcome addition as well, for what is love and passion if it is not shared? They seemed grateful and happy to be there as much as we were. They stomped and bobbed into the night with us, everyone looking like fools with grins plastered across their faces, digging each others souls. But like the summers wind they had come and gone, leaving us with the memory of their sweet company blown across our cheeks.

But the adventures have not been limited to music and long conversations on the mind and the world. There has also been fire. Fire that burned brightly into the night, refusing to relinquish its power. Fire that threatened to burn down a whole field if not respected and stoked and loved. Fire that burned into all of us and brought us closer together while it illuminated our faces with its red romantic glow. Fire that we had started and in the night, but smoked and held on through the next three days to come. Through rain, wind, shine, and its own eternal heat, a reminder of what was had and gone.

 

The night had started off simple enough. Food, a couple of drinks, and a rumor of a bonfire that was impending later in our night. Although none of us except for Juan knew the magnitude of this rumor. We figured this fire would be like any other and on our time schedule, not the other way around. But as we had gotten to the spot where the wood and other materials were stacked, and the flames started to grow we saw that we were wrong. But we were not sorry or sad for it. We had good company, a little brew to keep our spirits going, and each other to share in the flames with.

As we all burned on music was eventually brought out, and once the fire was contained and no longer needing much attention the conversation and stories began to flow. We talked and drank and grooved into the night. Fire dancing in our eyes, as it can only dance in the mountains in Ireland, where the air is fuller and where the mountains enchant your very being. But as all nights must it had to end. But the spot is still scorched in the earth for a little while longer. A memento of a night come and gone.

These are just a couple of the adventures had over the last month, with only a handful of people I’ve experienced them with. As I haven’t even breached into the times Sonny and I have had, which will be a whole post or two on its own. But the adventures, memories, and life we’ve been living keeps me going, keeps me happy, and keeps me burning bright. I still can’t wrap my head around the thought that this will be my life for the next year, or that one day it will have to end.