I met KC Groves at Parco one morning a few weeks back. She was happily, naturally engaging in a conversation about good books, taking suggestions from my friend Emma. She seemed like a local, but she was actually just passing through, back from a tour in Germany ("great food, well taken care of...") and now on her way to a bluegrass festival, DelFest, in Maryland, with her band, Uncle Earl.
After the festival, she said, "I'm going to hit the Appalachian trail." I was envious hearing of her travels. She smiled.
"All I do is travel, and I always think 'could I live here? Maybe this is where I should live...'"
It made sense, then, why she fit in so well in the corner here at Parco. She was trying Park Slope on for size.
I laughed. "I always think that too!"
I shared with her my own thoughts of the area where she was headed in North Carolina where I had travelled with my family along the Blue Ridge Parkway years earlier. I had met a lovely woman at a junk shop in Mt. Airy. She had given me a little succulent as a gift after I had given her a gold star.
"'Hens and chicks,' she called it..."
KC nodded. "Yes, Semper Vivum," she said. "Always alive."
I cringed. "Yikes. It died..."
We laughed. Gifts from strangers are often temporary, as are travels to faraway places. But it is important to learn to appreciate them in the moment, to savor them. KC definitely seems to do both, she's definitely trying, which is why I gave her a gold star. Later, listening to her great band online, I realized I should have given her another...they are awesome!
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