A stiff breeze rustles the fallen leaves from the lawn, lifting them into crisp whirlwinds of red, orange and brown that collapse moments after they start. Autumn is here. Winter beckons. ’Tis the season for looking forward and back, of gauging meals not by their glutinous content but the conversations and laughs—and, too, the pangs we feel from missing loved ones, family and friends. Some have passed on, of course, while others drifted away, like us carried by the wind to lands and lives far away from where we began.
“Walking Me Home,” the latest single from one of my favorite folk-flavored singer-songwriters, Hayley Reardon, delves into cherished memories to celebrate her childhood best friend who, as she joked on Instagram, “just so happens to have the world’s most singable name.” She also explained, “Julia and I were neighbors growing up and spent hours at her house together making up games and building imaginary worlds. When it was time for me to go home, she would stand in the doorway and sing out loud into the street so I didn’t feel alone walking back in the dark. This song was built around that memory and all the ways our friendship has continued to walk me home into adult life.”
It’s a deft portrait of friendship, time and distance, and of the bonds that keep old friends near—even if it’s just a brief call from a grocery store.
The Old Grey Cat 