Take me home, country roads

I've realized that I’m listening to a lot of folk music recently.  It’s good for quiet nights in a small village where you start thinking about lots of things.  I've always liked some folk music, and Peter Paul and Mary have always been one of my favorite groups.

Here in Botswana, I’m listening to John Denver a lot.  This probably makes my mom smile, because she really likes his music, and would play it when I was a kid.  And I’d run screaming out of the room because for some reason I hated it when I was around 10.  I didn't like anything having to do with country music, except maybe Johnny Cash, until I was in college.

The song I listen to the most is ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’.  I've never lived in West Virginia, but I lived in Southwest Virginia most of my adult life, and the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River are a bit of home to me.  And the song makes me think of my home in Maryland, and my family’s homes in South Carolina as well.

Surprisingly enough, Batswana also seem to like John Denver, because I've heard him on the radio at least 2-3 times.  The first time was in a combi driven by Peace Corps staff during training last fall.  We were going to Gabs for the day and there were about 14-15 of us in the combi, having 8-9 different conversations with the radio on in the background.  All of the sudden ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ comes on.  Everyone in the entire combi stopped all of their conversations and we proceeded to belt out the chorus each time it came around, with several of us singing all the verses as well.  We burst out laughing at the end, chattering about how unexpected it was to hear John Denver on the radio in Botswana.  And our driver, Zeeman, slowly changed the radio station while giving us a look of slight terror, as in, WHAT just happened?!? Crazy Americans…

As I listen to the song, it sometimes makes me homesick, sometimes makes me wonder if I should be here and not at home, and always makes me realize how much I love my home, my country, and the opportunity to live abroad.  And as I sit here thinking of home, I know that for the rest of my life, hearing ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ will make me think of that combi ride, and of my time in a small village in Botswana.

"I hear her voice 

In the mornin' hour she calls me 
The radio reminds me of my home far away 
And drivin' down the road I get a feelin' 
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday 

Country Roads, take me home 
To the place I belong 
West Virginia, mountain momma 
Take me home, country roads "