A few weeks ago I imagined a movies scene where I’m up early in the morning sipping some freshly brewed coffee while diligently writing about…whatever masterpiece it is I should be writing to get me a movie about me writing. Another alternative is me plugging away late into the quiet night while John Adams’ Harmonielehre plays in the background.

I haven’t been experiencing my morning Eat Pray Love moment, but I did find myself one night doing exactly the latter. Harmonielehre—particularly the third part—is a piece I’ve often played while driving late into the night long after the incessant traffic has passed. It’s the perfect soundtrack to fast rivers of light weaving through tall glass towers. It’s all overly romanticized, I know, but it’s the state of mind I find myself in when doing this.

All this to say that I find myself lost in thought more during the second part of this piece late at night as I sit near the window looking out into eerily empty streets. It speaks to the loneliness and nostalgia I feel as I wonder if it’ll every all be the same ever again. Has the world forever changed and this will all be a memory that haunts us the rest of our lives?