The most magical and memorable parts of touring and traveling Europe last September were the ones most unexpected; the days we had no plan. I find that is the best way to travel… Having a general timeline but leaving lots of space for the unexpected to occur.
We never intended to go to the little town of Hoisdorf, we were just trying to save money by staying outside of Hamburg. Turns out… we never once made it into that city. It felt too right to ditch our Hamburg busking intentions to instead have many-a-tea-drinking ceremony with our host, play games, eat apples, learn about the local history, write music, record a song, and use my iPhone to make a corny running-through-the-apple-orchard style music video as a way to relish in all the magic that the unexpected had to offer us.
So, fast-forward to November, once Ernesto and I (but mostly Ernesto) decided we could salvage the song (despite having recorded it on NOT-ideal equipment) and release it, I began to edit the video we made. I started it off as a montage of the tour to go along with the song... but as I kept digging through my hard-drive, it instead became a video of all the adventures I've had in the last year, a teeny summation of 2018.
Just as we didn't expect our European detour to turn into this song and video... when I think back to a year ago, I had no idea who or where I'd be.
I’ve lived in three different apartments, two different states and traveled to NINE different countries. I became an Aunt and my nephew has grown into a lean mean 1 year old machine, THREE of my songs have been played on the FM radio AND I am actually meeting lots of strangers on the internet who know/love the words to my songs and reach out to tell me about it! Today I just bought my first snowboard set up and am writing this tonight from my friend's house in Denver, Colorado.
Life is random, complicated and truly heartbreaking at times, then bright, sunny and magical at others. I don't understand it but I'm grateful to be here to experience it. The one thing I've noticed to be pretty consistent is that the best of it, the warmth and the magic, show up when I leave room. make space. settle in. just let things be.
So here's my best expression of that. The amazing bits of life and deep love I've gotten to experience in the last year... and the hope I have to continue walking, running, dancing, eating apples, and snowboarding into the direction of whatever unexpected comes next.