A few days ago the family ventured to the Virginia/West Virginia border. It was Fall Break, and the Husband decided it was time The Bug and The Pea discovered where he grew up. "When I was a kid....When I was a kid..." he'd say. They try to take it all in - to figure out what it was like.
We drive by the "old" house. "When I was a kid, Father and I would take cement and repair this stone wall....When I was a kid, we'd climb as high as we could to the top of this tree!" he gets a faraway look in his eye as he remembers.
"Look, girls! See that middle window? THAT was my room! No, not there, the MIDDLE window. No, we can't go inside. Someone else lives there now."
We drive up the road a ways. "Look up there girls, that's where I went to elementary school!"
"There?" they squint. "It's so small..."
"Well, it USED to be bigger. Or maybe it just seemed bigger. Hmmm. Looks like it's a business college now."
We drive further down the road. "Girls, that's where I went to high school. Well...most of high school. Before I moved to Kentucky. You know, I was on their very first Cross Country Team!"
This means nothing to the Bug and the Pea, but they smile obligingly.
"Honey," I say, "They don't know what Cross Country means..."
"Oh, running. Girls, I used to run in long races. After school we'd practice running, the other guys and me. We'd start right here..." He points out the window.
We drive up the road through a neighborhood.
"Girls, when we got to here...to this point...we'd STILL be running!"
The road turns to gravel as we head up the mountain.
"What was I doing NOW?" he asks.
"STILL RUNNING!" they reply in unison.
The car hugs the side of the mountain and the gravel rattles in the tire wells. I grab the handle on the car door, I can't bear to see how close we are to the edge of the cliff.
"What was I doing NOW girls? At this point on the mountain?" he asks.
"STILL RUNNING!" they chant.
The road winds around the mountain and I grip the handle tighter. We continue to drive and I begin to wonder if the road EVER ends, and if it does--how are we ever going to turn the car around without tumbling over the edge?
The Husband sees I'm ready for this literal trip down memory lane to end on flat terrain.
"Almost there..." he promises, and I loosen my grip.
"Your team must have been amazing - ALL of you ran up this mountain after school every day?" I conjecture. He grins. The path is a 5k...all uphill. I can see he's forgotten what a feat it actually was.
"Of course, I was skinny as a rail back then," he grins.
We finally reach the mountain top. It's barely big enough for our compact car to turn around. The Husband, The Bug and The Pea get out to investigate the peak. "Look at that view! You can see everything from up here!" I take their word for it, heights are not my gig. I silently pray the kids aren't scurrying toward the edge. I'm frozen and can't bear to look. A moment later, they pile back into the car.
"Once we touched that rock, we'd turn around and run back to the school. When we reached the school, Cross Country practice was over!" remembers the Husband.
"WE want to run down the hill!" the girls plead.
"NO!" I panic. The Husband grins. We cruise back down the mountain...in the car.
A little bit of history re-lived, a precious journey shared with two daughters.
"Now what?" asks the youngest...
We drive by the "old" house. "When I was a kid, Father and I would take cement and repair this stone wall....When I was a kid, we'd climb as high as we could to the top of this tree!" he gets a faraway look in his eye as he remembers.
"Look, girls! See that middle window? THAT was my room! No, not there, the MIDDLE window. No, we can't go inside. Someone else lives there now."
We drive up the road a ways. "Look up there girls, that's where I went to elementary school!"
"There?" they squint. "It's so small..."
"Well, it USED to be bigger. Or maybe it just seemed bigger. Hmmm. Looks like it's a business college now."
We drive further down the road. "Girls, that's where I went to high school. Well...most of high school. Before I moved to Kentucky. You know, I was on their very first Cross Country Team!"
This means nothing to the Bug and the Pea, but they smile obligingly.
"Honey," I say, "They don't know what Cross Country means..."
"Oh, running. Girls, I used to run in long races. After school we'd practice running, the other guys and me. We'd start right here..." He points out the window.
We drive up the road through a neighborhood.
"Girls, when we got to here...to this point...we'd STILL be running!"
The road turns to gravel as we head up the mountain.
"What was I doing NOW?" he asks.
"STILL RUNNING!" they reply in unison.
The car hugs the side of the mountain and the gravel rattles in the tire wells. I grab the handle on the car door, I can't bear to see how close we are to the edge of the cliff.
"What was I doing NOW girls? At this point on the mountain?" he asks.
"STILL RUNNING!" they chant.
The road winds around the mountain and I grip the handle tighter. We continue to drive and I begin to wonder if the road EVER ends, and if it does--how are we ever going to turn the car around without tumbling over the edge?
The Husband sees I'm ready for this literal trip down memory lane to end on flat terrain.
"Almost there..." he promises, and I loosen my grip.
"Your team must have been amazing - ALL of you ran up this mountain after school every day?" I conjecture. He grins. The path is a 5k...all uphill. I can see he's forgotten what a feat it actually was.
"Of course, I was skinny as a rail back then," he grins.
We finally reach the mountain top. It's barely big enough for our compact car to turn around. The Husband, The Bug and The Pea get out to investigate the peak. "Look at that view! You can see everything from up here!" I take their word for it, heights are not my gig. I silently pray the kids aren't scurrying toward the edge. I'm frozen and can't bear to look. A moment later, they pile back into the car.
"Once we touched that rock, we'd turn around and run back to the school. When we reached the school, Cross Country practice was over!" remembers the Husband.
"WE want to run down the hill!" the girls plead.
"NO!" I panic. The Husband grins. We cruise back down the mountain...in the car.
A little bit of history re-lived, a precious journey shared with two daughters.
"Now what?" asks the youngest...
No comments:
Post a Comment