Grandma's Road

Today I'm going to jog along a narrow service road tucked deep in the woods not far from my grandparents' small farm. Both are long gone to heaven! The farm was sold before they passed.

The place is still there today and looks much the same. Grandpa's vineyard was his prize and he gave it lots of care. It's not there anymore but most of his fields remain. I drive past the old homestead once a year. Often I am tempted to stop and give out an offer to buy the place but haven't as yet.


In May and June my grandmother would walk my siblings and myself out a long rough path used in service for farm machinery. It was always over grown with weeds. Rocky soil showed were the heavy equipment had worn away the bracken. Wet springs flowed in abundance.

The road I'll run today is much like grandma's. Tree and large bush overgrow the sides of the trail making it a seculded forest adventure.

We were very small just preschool age when off we'd go down the lost lane with grandma. She would delight in pointing out the blossoms and identify the names of the bearers. Animals navigate on these country lanes and leave many signs. These grandma would mark and describe the creatures who passed before us. Deer, raccon, bobcat and bear, we saw all their tracks.

The bear signs always left us afraid. It was many years after her death that we learned grandma always carried a handgun in her apron during those walks.

Today I'll be with grandma on a trail much like long ago. I'll sense her presence in the same way as in my childhood. I'll be with my young mother and my siblings for about eight (8) miles. It will be heaven!

jpR


In remembrance of Lizzie McElwain's love of nature and literature.