Days Gone By
The things we do for love! I was reminded of love’s power this weekend as the Rushes rumbled down I-85. There is a lot of highway between Norfolk and Union Springs, AL but not enough to keep us away from my grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. We made a few new memories and reminisced about days gone by. Well, I reminisced while the rest of the family nodded off spell-like under the rhythm of the road. It’s hard to resist the sound of rain and road mixing like light jazz percussion. Ample coffee was involved.
Heading from Norfolk to Union Springs you pick up I-85 just north of the Virginia-North Carolina border. From door to door, it’s 713 miles. Nothing when it comes to love. You take the same interstate through Charlotte, Greenville and Atlanta to an infamous little city called Opelika. Infamous because of a former graduate, class of ’02, yours truly! The faint chance of an open warrant sends me skirting the city limits. Just kidding, sort of.
On the edge of Opelika, you pick up Hwy 29 which cuts through national and personal history. Most of the original forests are gone and replaced by seas of evergreen. The only disruption to the pattern of the pines is Tuskegee. Tuskegee is known for its Institute which gifted the world the Tuskegee Airmen and the modern version of peanut butter through George Washington Carver. I would visit the Tuskegee Institute as a child and pay homage to the man who single handedly nourished my existence. I had a crunchy peanut butter sandwich today.
Childhood journeys from Opelika to Union Springs seemed to grind time to a halt. I didn’t realize then that the halfway point of Tuskegee is only 20 miles from either direction. Growing up it might as well have been cross country. Maybe it was the mental game that arose from meeting in the middle? Like a baton in a relay race, I’d be handed off at the Tuskegee volunteer fire station (no not like that!) into the supervision of my grandmother. I loved it! Like a box of high dollar eggs, life was a bit more free range.
After 673 miles, the 20 miles from Opelika to Tuskegee followed by the 20 miles from Tuskegee to Union Springs, passed in a blink. But for a moment time again stood still. As I passed by the quiet parking lot of the fire station those many exchanges came flooding back. My grandmother’s grey Acura Legend would always be in the parking lot first. That same voice and smile would always be eagerly awaiting. That shared look of mischief that skips a generation knowing we were headed for a good time and my mother couldn’t do anything about it. I’m not sure how many times we traversed the 20 miles to meet in Tuskegee but there’s no way the number 713 could contain it. The things we do for love!
I would have driven another 713 miles to celebrate my grandmother’s 90th birthday. She’s demonstrated faithful love to me in more ways than I can count. Time can be a twisted master. The significance of a moment is rarely realized in the moment. I do the driving now but it’s what you do for love.
Leaving Union Springs, I took our children by the old white house on Chunnenuggee Ave. The destination of my childhood journey from Opelika via Tuskegee. I’d love to have one more chance to go for a ride with my grandmother and plow through that big white front door. It feels so close if not for time. Time that stands between the memory and the moment. That’s no longer my grandmother’s house and she no longer drives.
Looks like I get to do the driving for now. The things we do for love.