Welcome to “Dear Daybreak”, a weekly Daybreak column. It features short vignettes about life in the Upper Valley: an encounter, some wry exchange with a stranger or acquaintance… Anything that happened in this region or relates to it and strikes a contributor as interesting or funny or poignant—or that makes us appreciate living here.
Want to submit a Dear Daybreak item? Just go here!
Dear Daybreak:
Home Depot
The thoughtful ones who ply these paths mutter to themselves in deep concentration reciting lists like silent prayers amid stacks of lumber and bulging bins of cotter pins and carriage bolts in search of the key to a puzzle only they understand in a world that’s always needed fixing by those who’ve known to listen like shamans for benevolent spirits in steel wool and drill bits sharp flint and firm fiber the rich dense forest teeming with tools whispering whispering Use us! Use us!
— Danny Dover, Bethel
Dear Daybreak:
I love having lived mindfully in so many neighborhoods in the Upper Valley, which makes this bouquet of roadside flowers so meaningful to me.
This past fall, a client with neurocognitive issues asked me to take the scenic drive back to their house. This involves driving a scenic dirt road, which I have driven many times, and whose residents I am acquainted with, mostly via reputation and stories told by locals. On a flat stretch of the road, I could see Fred (not his real name) up ahead. I know of Fred....he, too, has neurocognitive issues.
I've often seen him walking along that road, always collecting roadside flowers into a small bouquet to give to his husband. On that morning, my client had requested a slow, leisurely speed, so I slowed to a stop to greet Fred and admire his bouquet.
We had a short, neighborly kind of conversation, at the end of which Fred offered me the bouquet. How could I possibly say no?
— Lori Harriman, Wilder
Dear Daybreak:
I wrote this song the other day, inspired by my great uncle—who I was shocked to hear was 79 year old. He has the spirit of a 25-year-old and continues to travel the world as a photojournalist. It was also partially inspired by meeting a Dartmouth student, and 34-year-old me making a remark about how we were basically the same age—and receiving back a long, silent stare deep into my growing set of gray hairs and newly forming wrinkles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zlje-8HeQk
And here are the lyrics to follow along:
“Old & Young”
Why do I feel older, older when I’m young? Younger when I’m old? I don’t know, but the story goes… Chorus They say age is just a number But I have discovered That you can be old and young At the same time
*When I look in the mirror I see no grey I see no age Just a woman, a girl, a babe (Repeat Chorus)
When I look at a baby I see wonder The same old wonder in my great granddaddy’s eyes (Repeat Chorus)*
One thing I know Is you gotta know how to live Find joy in the simple Dance a bit It’s slowing down to smell the roses To see the sparkling snow To smell the burning candle To hear the piccolo It’s slowing down to see the stars shine To say hello To chase the rainbows To taste the sourdough (Repeat Intro)