There Is A Time

There is a Time is my favorite song by The Dillards, the bluegrass band famous in the 60s and 70s (they still play), and also were featured in the Andy Griffith show (The Darlings). The song speaks to wanderlust, and how you need to do your roaming when you are young. To me, the singer is older, wishing he or she had done just that.

Gary and I traveled to Mt. Airy, North Carolina over the last few days, birthplace of Andy Griffith and the mythical Mayberry; it was the show’s fiftieth anniversary. TAGS, as it is known to its fans, is Gary’s favorite show. To him, Mayberry represents all that is good in humanity: caring relatives and neighbors embedded within a simpler life.

We had so much fun. We both agreed the first night was the best, the town, bathed in mist and moonlight, was empty. As we walked down the streets of Mt. Airy, we really could imagine Aunt Bee running out and asking us if we wanted pie. The next day we saw more of the town and visited the museum. We were both pleased that for the most part the town hadn’t been fancied up; it was worn in places, but still scrubbed and proud, and not just because of Andy.

One of the added structures adjacent to the Andy Griffith museum is the Blackmon Amphitheatre, which hosts many a band. It also has a dance floor. The Band of Oz, a beach band from South Carolina, played the night we attended. They did mostly shag numbers, but Gary and I danced our respective swings and a rumba or two. We had so much fun. Yeah, the floor was hard and uneven (granite), but the moon was full, the music great, and Gary and I were together. Happy sigh. The next day as we were eating breakfast in the hotel lobby we saw ourselves on the news, dancing away.

It was fun to get away, dance at a new venue, and to fulfill my husband’s dream of seeing Andy’s home town. But it was nice to get home. Tonight we will be dancing on the home hardwoods of the Starlite with our favorite club, the Brickyard Boogie Dancers.

Band of Oz. Funny. I guess there really is no place like home.

There is a time for love and laughter
The days will pass like summer storms
The winter wind will follow after
But there is love and love is warm

There is a time for us to wander
When time is young and so are we
The woods are greener over yonder
The path is new the world is free

There is a time when leaves are fallin'
The woods are gray the paths are old
The snow will come when geese are callin'
You need a fire against the cold

So do your roaming in the springtime
And you'll find your love in the summer sun
The frost will come and bring the harvest
And you can sleep when day is done.
- The Dillards