roots

You might like the gypsy life
You judge your progress by the phases of the moon
Get your compass and your sharpest knife
People love you when they know you’re leaving soon

If you choose to settle in one place
You may be harder over on the ones you love
Like a tree without the growing space
You will be taking from below and from above

-john gorka

I started to love this song in college for a bunch of different reasons. I was falling in love with modern folk music and John Gorka’s voice is just intoxicating. Nancy Griffith as back-up isn’t half bad either. But the words always got me, too. The thought of being a gypsy intrigued me. And I had yet to get out of the South.

Now I feel like my life is somewhat imitating this song. And I don’t think I want that. I mean, I want to move. And I want to start a life where the outdoors are more accessible. But I also love, I mean really LOVE the people that are in my life here. And I don’t like the idea that “people love you when they know you’re leaving soon.”

I keep hearing the word community. And I am just starting to get it. It isn’t necessarily this super intentional thing. It isn’t huge. It can be as small as two. It is just being in the lives of those people that you love. It is making an extra effort. It is talking a lot. And just being quiet in the presence of others. It is knowing and understanding. And wanting to know and understand more. We are all just trying to figure out life on this earth. Why not do it together?

So as we leave I am realizing that I am not taking up roots. Because I am not planted in the soil of Illinois. My roots are in each and every person that I hold dear. And they will be with me no matter where I am.