Country roads, take me home...

...to the place I beloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong!

I've only been to West Virginia once, and it was fun. I don't believe in heaven, nor have I been there, so I can't say that the comparison is just, but I'll take it anyways.

I have some crazy friends, and they hang out in some crazy bars. Namely Resi's Bierstube, which is just a hop, skip and a stumble away from my house. Good food. Great beer. And, as mentioned, a likely place to run into some of my less sane cronies.

A large percentage of these cronies are currently in Germany, specifically Munich, for Oktoberfest. When I get together with this gang of well-conditioned alcohol imbibers gets together, I usually plan on a very late night and a potentiall nasty hangover in the morning. When they go to Oktoberfest, I tend to turn my phone off. Not that I don't enjoy talking to them, but they have a tendency to be in the hall that happens to play Country Roads by John Denver every night, just before last call.

That particular song, for whatever reason, is intensely popular in Europe, as I've been told by more than one person. It is a habit for these friends to call my cell phone, although it is the middle of the day, so I can listen to thousands of incredibly drunk people in a beer tent thousands of miles away sing along to this wonderful song, which I file under my "guilty pleasure" musical taste. This habit, based on the repitition, seems to be becoming a tradition. Not that I'm not touched that they're thinking of me just before they "head for the rollercoasters," but it's rough on the psyche to hear such a good time on the other end of the line when I'm stuck at my desk, sober and not singing. At least it's entertaining.

They're also, is seems, dragging along a toy status of Jesus and taking pictures of it it various places. Here, Jesus is smoking. Not bad. Not bad. There's another where he's hugging a bottle of wine, and another where he's stuffed into a rather attractive woman's clevage. But I digress.

Back to the song.

Whenever I hear it, reminds me of two people, my 6th grade chorus teacher, and the lovely and talented Ceerock. My chorus teacher, way back in the 80's was apparently crazy about Denver, too. That, however, was a long, long time ago. Ceerock also has a special connection with that song, and she is now the first person I think of when I hear that song.

I, for one, enjoy the associative nature of memory. When I hear Patience, I think of my first love. When I hear Little Green Bag, I think of S, who is currently plotting calling my cellphone in a couple hours so I can hear Country Roads again. Before the big, nasty breakup this song reminded me of Red, but now this song does.

Isn't it scary how things change?