Flights of Fancy

It's been about two months since I left Arizona, and I still can't stop watching this. That video was taken on our last night of the trip. My friend Kim and I more or less begged these guys— four of our best friends and the most talented musicians we know— to play for everyone. If I remember correctly, they barely rehearsed. The four of them just came together and began to perform for all of us. Kim was lucky enough to get this song on video, and I can't thank her enough for that. I've been listening to this over and over again, and after all that's happened in the last two months, this song has come to mean so much to me. And the fact that Billy and David are the ones that are singing it, and the Ben and Nick are the other two musicians just makes it all the more valuable.

So where am I going with this?

On Thursday night, my school's art department held the opening of the Senior Art Show at a local bakery/coffee shop, and the department chair asked Billy, Nick and David to provide some background music. Kim and I went to cheer them on (and look at some senior art, but mostly to see them), and swore we wouldn't leave until they played "Unchained Melody". Right before Kim left, they did. We didn't have Ben on the keyboard, and this time it was only Billy singing, but it was still just as magical as it was on that night in Arizona. I was moved to tears.

After that show, the guys and I (Kim had to leave early) piled into Nick's Lexus to go to David's house. They loaded what equipment they could into the trunk, but the instruments rode in the cab with us. I sat in the back seat with Billy with a full-sized keyboard and guitar across our laps, and David rode in the front seat beside Nick with another guitar somehow situated between him and the dashboard. We rode all the way to David's that way, with everyone making jokes and doing impressions and just plain having a good time. I didn't want that night to end.

I love these guys. It breaks my heart that we'll all be going our separate ways soon. David is going to New Hampshire, Billy to D.C., and Nick to God-knows-where. It breaks my heart even more to see that they'll be separated from one another. Friends like that are so hard to come by. I know that people say they'll have time together on breaks and weekends and such, but time goes by so slowly. And time can do so much.

I've loved these days,
Lani