Cooler memories...

I find myself, on these hot, almost intolerable summer afternoons, daydreaming about the crisp cool air of winter. It is no surprise to me that there are several communities out there that celebrate “Christmas in July.” Certainly our natural tendency is to desire what we currently don’t have. Perhaps this sentiment was most strongly thrust upon me as I visited yesterday with a neighbor in my sweltering living room and came to the sudden and unpleasant realization that there was a steady stream of sweat traveling down the center of back and into my nether regions. Such moments call to mind memories of cooler…yet heart warming moments:
Christmas Memory:
December 1998: I was living in Dresden, Germany as an LDS missionary. All of the missionaries in the area had come together in Dresden for a conference. These meetings were always a very pleasant get together. Good food, good advice, good fun, good company. Towards the end, a group of elders were gathering around a piano and had decided that it would be fun to go down to the Dresden Christmas Market (one of the oldest in the world), and sing some carols. I was invited at the recommendation of one Elder Quinn Dietlein, an elder that I barely knew from Adam, but had heard that I had a voice.
We went to the Old City where the market was. Christmas time in these traditional city centers in Germany are a magical experience. The smells, noises, sites: It is Christmas at its best. We found a place under an old stone bridge linking the riverfront and the market, an area of high traffic and great acoustics. It was a magical hour of music! I was on cloud nine. In a beautiful place, with very talented singers, bringing joy to passers by. It was freezing, but we were un-phased. It remains an incredible Christmas memory. And for those not aware, Quinn Dietlein became a very close friend/roommate/bandmate, and a person I have shared many subsequent magical musical moments with.