It was probably one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen, in a dark kind of way. Straight out of movies and TV shows, literally, the Dark Hedges loomed before me. As we drove under the canopy of leaves, I took in the grassy fields peeking through the trunks, the gnarled and twisted branches, and the bark that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Clouds shifted in the night sky making the shadows dance.
The car was parked and the four of us got out. We had come on this night to find adventure and to feel alive. Four new friends enjoying each other’s company. Right as we began to walk the question of our generation was posed, “Do I need my phone?”
Ah, the iPhone. Your entire social existence held in the palm of your hand. On this night, bringing the phone would mean devoting at least half the time to taking pictures. Pausing every few moments to pose or to capture the moonlight just so. While talking, half your mind would be focused on the Instagram filter you would later use and figuring out exactly which hashtags would get the most “likes” when Wifi became available.
An understanding look passed between us. “Let’s leave our phones and actually enjoy tonight and make memories in our minds.” So we left the phones; instead we brought a guitar and the desire to make the most of what we’d been given.
As we perched in one of the centuries old trees, time passed over midnight changing from the late night to the wee hours of early morning. The guitar was played and songs were sung. Laughs were shared. Old stories were told to new ears. And we listened to the rain fall all around us while the covering of leaves kept us dry.
There’s something to be said for enjoying life in a simpler way. Letting go of technology and the fear that you won’t remember if there are no pictures to commemorate. Allow your mind to do the work that God intended for it, and go make midnight memories. We did.
