My best friend in college always told me how envious he was of my travels, backpacking through Europe, and two semestres in Madrid. He worked at NASA, 7 AM to 4 PM everyday. He had never been outside of Texas. As he put more time in at NASA, the more restless he became, and he started to obsess about travel and foreign ways of life. He joined an international student business group in order to meet people from other cultures. Finally he resolved to join the Peace Corps, and he sent off his application.

Anxious to begin his adventure, he quit NASA nine months early in order to backpack his way through Europe before he would have to settle in one place for the Peace Corps. A week into his trip, he met Michelle, from Germany.

The two fell in love at first sight. He continued his trip but returned to meet her a few weeks later when she would have some holidays. The two frolicked in the bliss of a new relationship. He spent the rest of his trip traveling and staying with her.

My friend returned to the states briefly, only to refuel for an even greater adventure with Michelle. She was an importer of odd items who had contacts to myriad off-the-beaten paths throughout the world. Brent and Michelle would travel the world for six months. They went to Thailand and Indonesia and many exotic places, all devoid of tourists. They crossed oceans, climbed volcanos, visited islands, and lived life among natives.

But then Brent's orders for the Peace Corps arrived. He was to spend two years in Bulgaria. Michelle's business would prevent her from residing in Bulgaria, and Brent had to make a choice. Michelle was a few years older than Brent. She was ready for marriage and perhaps children, but she knew that Brent still needed to grow and that the Peace Corps was a dream he had anticipated for so long that he would be forever restless if he let it go.

They resolved that he would go to Bulgaria and that after one month they would decide if he should quit the Peace Corps or if they should quit the relationship. Once in Bulgaria, Brent kept two diaries, both on audio cassette. One for Michelle, and one for me.

A year after he left for the Peace Corps, I received a tape in the mail. It began with Brent's voice telling me of his first weeks in Bulgaria. He described a ride in a bus, through lush, green mountains. He spoke of little houses with orange, red roofs, nestled into the hills. He described how he sat next to a girl who told him this was a wonderful introduction to his time here. He told me how a song came on the radio. He said it was deep, instrumental, that he didn't know the guy's name, but he thought it was called "Children". I knew the song he was talking about, as I'm sure all of you do. From that moment, as I listened to the tape, I could hear the song playing in my mind. Brent's voice continued to tell me how he remembered the first time he heard that song. It was on the dancefloor, in Germany, with Michelle. He said it was one of those rare moments, when he looked around him, and smiled, and couldn't believe where he was at, and who he was with, and thought how wonderful everything was, and how he had it, the ability to get there.

I immediately knew that I had to mix this audio cassette with my record. I took Brent's voice from the tape, and after a few attempts with timing, created this. monte 12/17/97