FAROE FRIDAY: MEMORIES

Short memory of the Faroes:

It’s late Friday night. Actually, it’s Saturday morning, about 2:30 or so. I’m at the G! Festival listening to some techno DJ spin tunes at the dance area. It was my first day at the festival, which is staged on a beach at the end of a fjord. On one side of the beach, jagged green mountains plunge directly into the black waters of the North Sea. Despite the early hour, the morning sun is starting to near the horizon, casting an orange light on the mountains and the water and during the sky on the opposite side a deep purple.

I don’t know this DJ’s name, but he’s good. He’s spinning a really fun mix. I’m still adjusting to the time change, so I’m too tired to dance, but I’m happy just to stand by myself and take in the scene before me.

A guy walks up to me. His English is so good I take him for an Asian-American, but I later learn he's Faroese and has some sort of Asian background. He recognizes me from the podcast I produce and asks, “so what do you think of all this?”

I look around me, at this funky little village, at the beautiful people dancing all around me, at the free light show playing out on the hillsides. Then I listen for a few more seconds to the awesome music that’s washing over me. I turn back to him and say this:

“Right here, right now, this is the best place on earth. This place, these people, this music… there is nobody in the world that has it better than you and me right now. I’ll accept that there may be somebody somewhere who has it almost as good. But nobody has it better than us. Nobody. Don’t ever forget this… right now. For a few moments, you were in the best place on earth.”

He nods, gives me a hug, and walks away. I go back to listening to the music.