Continuing from “SILENCES LEARNED”…..
* * *
In the car and on my way
at 5 AM.
During winter
I’d be near-halfway
by the time
the sun rose.
It was
the season of campus runs,
the long drives
back and forth,
delivering and retrieving
near-grown children -
aye, no longer children -
from universities.
If retrieving,
oft greeted
at 9 or 10
by someone vaguely familiar,
wiping sleep from eyes
and saying,
“It’s so early. What time did you leave home?!”
Ah, the campus runs.
The various destinations
navigated on roads that were foreign to me at first
and later
I could find my way blindfolded.
* * *
The campus runs.
Times I had them to myself.
It was during those trips
the stories would come out.
Theirs, yes.
But mine, too,
just in the course of normal conversation,
bits and pieces,
here and there.
Memories sprang up, poured forth.
A tale would be half-told
before I realized how deep in I’d waded.
I lost count of the number of times
I heard the words.
“You never told me that!”
“You should write that down somewhere.”
Yes, I should.
Yes, I know.
I totally agree, and yet….I don’t know.
* * *
A little food and coffee administered
was like putting a quarter in the jukebox -
out came the music I wanted to hear,
talk of grades
and dreams
and need of sleep,
of projects
and presentations
and possible opportunities,
of friends
and fun
and finds at local shops,
of the head colds they never told me they had
that came at the worst possible time,
and haircuts given by roommates or self
to save money
and maybe, while home, could be fixed.
But in the background
far in the background
“You should write that down”
and
“You can’t write about that“
did battle.
* * *
I rode my bike
down to the river today
and read the next chapter
of “The Right to Write.”
The farmer came through
on a big machine
made a few passes,
cut the alfalfa.
When I looked up
I saw the mown piles
in rows
just lying there
later to be gathered together,
like stories scattered along interstates.
These campus runs were also appreciated by the ones you were visiting. Much like the article about the positive impact of visiting someone with Alzheimers (sp?), there was definitely a positive impact made by those visits.
This post leaves a lump in my throat.
I will be making many campus visits all too soon myself.
@April: It’s interesting that you connect those two posts. I hadn’t seen that, but yes. And some of those trips were just visits, not picking up or dropping off. Fond memories all!
@Emily: I know what you mean. It does seem to creep up faster than expected, even though you do.
“like stories scattered along the interstates”
I love your phrases.
And your stories.
And yes, always good to be in the car with someone…always a great time to share things. Have done so with my kids on occasions also.
I so know what you mean about time to yourselves. Precious moments those.
was like putting a quarter in the jukebox -
That phrase, just read, has opened a whole CAN of worms.