You Must Forgive Me...

...because, first of all, I haven't been able to keep up with the Song of the Day. *BUT* I do have an excuse for yesterday! I wanted to post "King Mackerel and the Blues are Runnin" but it's not on YouTube by the original artists. I'll post the lyrics in a separate post so you'll know why it was the SotD.

You must also forgive me, as James Taylor says, because I have up and gone to Carolina in my mind the past few days. I'm not sure what's caused this change in my mind. I'm not necessarily homesick and miserable, just thinking of home a lot. If I wasn't seeing palm trees everyday, things might be worse. ;)

Fall is my favorite time of the year, and Davidson is my favorite place to spend it. It's the first place I've seen so many different types of hardwoods, and of course, they're GORGEOUS in autumn. Every time I see a wedding at DCPC and a bride taking her pictures by the ivy-covered well, I totally understand why. And there's little I like more than finding that perfectly crunchy leaf and stompin on it! I will unashamedly walk like a drunkard just so I can crunch every leaf on the path! I also love walking to the Union weekend afternoons and seeing our football team play. (I think we just played Campbell, the college from my hometown...we better've won!) I also love the way the sky looks in the fall. The light is changing from the intensity of the summer to the almost-white light blue skies of winter. I like how CookOut runs slowly become ridiculous because the nights are starting to get nippy, but heck, we're getting milkshakes anyway! Finally, I love that the days feel just right for a new scarf or cute jacket.

So, I'm not gonna lie...I'm pretty jealous of the people right now in NC, especially Davidson, experiencing this time of year. New books, pens and blank notebooks. Realizing you need a jacket when you run to the Court because it's getting colder at night. A late-night conversation with your best friend at the Outpost over an egg & cheese bagel (or nasty nachos!) Walking to class with the wind tousling your hair and the leaves swirling around you as they fall to the ground. Deciding spur-of-the-moment to road trip to Asheville to see the trees' colors. I could go on and on.

Please forgive me.

Because I'm here in Arequipa, Peru, just not satisfied with perfectly sunny skies and 72 degrees, day in and day out.

I want a thunderstorm! I want to sit by my dorm room window, procrastinating, and listen to the thunder and watch the rain come down on people running from Commons. I want to worry about that tropical storm in the Atlantic. Maybe it'll even hit, and families will raid the grocery store for milk and bread, as if we were to have an inch of snow. I want to wake up to a rainy day that makes me to bitch about walking up the hill to class, even though I have a perfectly fine umbrella and cute boots I like to show off anyway. I want to see a familiar night sky as I stand in line at CookOut, complaining about how I can't choose a flavor and how I need someone else to pick for me. I want BBQ and lima beans and hush puppies. With sweet tea and lemon. No more hot tea. I want to drive to Lake Campus with my windows down, sunroof back, O.C.M.S blaring, and I'm going just to see how the trees have already started to change. And I'll complain how the Penguin Palace isn't open.

Please forgive the list. I hope, though, that it encourages my friends and loved ones back home to TAKE ADVANTAGE of this beautiful time of year. Christmas songs have got it wrong. Autumn is the most wonderful time of the year. (at least to me) So go to Lake Campus, go to the mountains, watch a thunderstorm, watch the geese land on the pond, go on Fall Break with friends, make a leaf pile, participate in lively class discussions (cuz we certainly don't have them here), go eat some Bojangles and drive with the windows down. And think of me.

The ORIGINAL version


Carolina in My Mind

In my mind I'm goin to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine
Can't you just feel the moonshine
Maybe just like a friend of mine
It hit me from behind
Yes I'm goin to Carolina in my mind

Karen she's a silver sun
You best walk her way and watch it shinin
Watch her watch the mornin come
A silver tear appearing now I'm cryin
Ain't I goin to Carolina in my mind

There ain't no doubt in no one's mind
That loves the finest thing around
Whisper something warm and kind
And hey babe the sky's on fire, I'm dyin
Ain't I goin to Carolina in my mind

In my mind I'm goin to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine
Can't you just feel the moonshine
Maybe just like a friend of mine
It hit me from behind
Yes I'm goin to Carolina in my mind

Dark and silent last night
I think I might have heard the highway calling
Geese in flight and dogs that bite
Signs that might be omens say I going, going
I'm goin to Carolina in my mind

With a holy host of others standing round me
Still I'm on the dark side of the moon
And it seems like it goes on like this forever
You must forgive me
If I'm up and gone to Carolina in my mind