tonight, bliss means sitting in the backseat of rich’s [admittedly junky] ancient toyota corolla, window rolled down [it doesn't really roll up all the way, anyway], cruising down the brooklyn-queens expressway, and onto the williamsburg bridge approaching manhattan. i’m still fresh-off-the-boat, more or less, and am absolutely a sucker for that majestic skyline. but tonight, it’s the breeze flipping around the backseat of the car, slapping my cheek, mussing my hair, making me tear, just a bit.

at 11:37pm, i’m still rolling from my post-concert high, brought on by sensory overload and friendship overload and beer overload. but tonight, it’s the wind that’s forcing me to take a momentary pause and reflect. for the first time in months, i’m alone with my thoughts, with no music, no chatter, no email, no text messages, no thinking. just the balmy breeze, the surreal skyline, the clear night.

half-shuttering my eyes for a moment, i’m taken back to kassel, [west] germany, 15 years ago. i’m on the back of mike’s moped, and we’re sputtering along at 60kph down the autobahn towards frankfurt. i can smell the balmy night air, the odorous mist [en] as well as the odorous mist [de] pungently punctuating our journey. i clutch mike’s torso with one arm, and with the other i hold the back rack, giving me leverage to sit up a little bit and take in all of the sights — mainly sleepy hamlets connecting us to big-city frankfurt.

it’s 11:37pm on a saturday night and we’re off to a discotek to meet up with mike’s friends. it’s my second trip to germany, but my first visit to mike and his family in kassel. and, tonight’s my first night reunited with mike, who, basically, is the coolest person i know in 1993. for 45 minutes we putter down the autobahn, the wind slapping my face, causing my eyes to tear. just a bit.

that night [as was the rest of that summer in germany] turned out to be magical. it was the start of yet another chapter in my life. new experiences, new friends, new discoveries of the world and of myself.

my eyes unshutter, and the manhattan skyline is no longer in the distance, but rather all around me. the sound of the roaring wind has been replaced by excellent music and the chatter of my friends, debating our wonderfully-complicated plans for the night ahead.

15 years.