I listen to Enjoy the Silence, and I immediately find myself in an Audi, whizzing along the roads between Ballersbach and Gießen, passing by the castle in Herborn, the rolling hills of the Westerwald, the golden fields of spring and the snowy fields of winter, the flat grey sky and the brilliant blue sky, the villages and towns, the -bachs, the -hausens and the -heims, on my way to or from school, to or from friends, to or from the bookstore, between some origin and some destination but perfectly content to just drive and drive and see where the road leads, if anywhere.

Not an entirely happy time in my life, but certainly a formative one, and one which I recall with a mixture of relief because it’s over and piercing sadness for the same reason.