I actually posted a part of this in a blog on my MySpace page but after typing it decided that it fit perfectly in the blog here about my dad. I have been feeling him all around the past few weeks. It has been a good feeling. A comforting feeling. Kind of like a soft breeze.
I live about 1 mile (as the crow flies) from the highway, or Interstate if you prefer. If that crow keeps flying I am also about 1 mile from the Mississippi River...but that is another story....for now I am thinking about the highway, the wind and "the sound".
The past few days the temps have been almost spring like. Such a welcome relief from the dreariness of winter. So the past two days a few of my windows have been open a bit. My bathroom window faces toward the direction of the highway...and I noticed when I walked past... "the sound". It is a special sound that I like to hear. I know some people will say their favorite sound is a child's laugh or singing in church or something highly beautiful and spiritual....but I like the sounds of the highway....the trucks and cars zooming past....it reminds me of VACATION!!
My grandparents moved to FLA when I was in grade school. So every year we HAD to go to FLA for vacation. I got a little jaded about this as it was a very long drive from St. Louis to FLA....the drive is a lot shorter now thanks to Interstates .....but back in the day it took 24 hours from our driveway to my grandparents driveway. To a kid that was a LONG time. Now that I am not a kid it is STILL a long time.
I spent most of the time sleeping in the backseat. When I got older I stayed up the entire time keeping the driver (my dad) company on the long drive. Those were special times just me and my dad alone in a car driving down the road listening to the radio and talking about everything. "The sound" was there all the time. Stopping at gas stations you heard the humming of the cars at they passed. Most of the time we set out in the middle of the night and the sound was a comfort and a sign that we were on vacation. It was always such a treat to get out of the car somewhere in Georgia leaving the bitter cold of a midwest winter and feeling the heat of the south. AHH good times.
I also remember hearing "the sound" when we would stop at a motel and spend the night. It would be the wee hours of a long day and the only sounds you heard were the sounds from the highway. So "the sound" came to mean vacation to me.
Last night I stopped at a gas starion right on the IL- MO border to fill up my car and I stood there pumping gas with my eyes closed and a spring breeze blowing my hair and the SOUND all around me. I never really took the time to notice before that the sound was so near until last night. I could not help but feel my dad all around too. He was in the wind. He was in the sound. So imagine my delight walking past the bathroom door last night and hearing The SOUND right in my own house!! It is like being on vacation....with my dad.
I live about 1 mile (as the crow flies) from the highway, or Interstate if you prefer. If that crow keeps flying I am also about 1 mile from the Mississippi River...but that is another story....for now I am thinking about the highway, the wind and "the sound".
The past few days the temps have been almost spring like. Such a welcome relief from the dreariness of winter. So the past two days a few of my windows have been open a bit. My bathroom window faces toward the direction of the highway...and I noticed when I walked past... "the sound". It is a special sound that I like to hear. I know some people will say their favorite sound is a child's laugh or singing in church or something highly beautiful and spiritual....but I like the sounds of the highway....the trucks and cars zooming past....it reminds me of VACATION!!
My grandparents moved to FLA when I was in grade school. So every year we HAD to go to FLA for vacation. I got a little jaded about this as it was a very long drive from St. Louis to FLA....the drive is a lot shorter now thanks to Interstates .....but back in the day it took 24 hours from our driveway to my grandparents driveway. To a kid that was a LONG time. Now that I am not a kid it is STILL a long time.
I spent most of the time sleeping in the backseat. When I got older I stayed up the entire time keeping the driver (my dad) company on the long drive. Those were special times just me and my dad alone in a car driving down the road listening to the radio and talking about everything. "The sound" was there all the time. Stopping at gas stations you heard the humming of the cars at they passed. Most of the time we set out in the middle of the night and the sound was a comfort and a sign that we were on vacation. It was always such a treat to get out of the car somewhere in Georgia leaving the bitter cold of a midwest winter and feeling the heat of the south. AHH good times.
I also remember hearing "the sound" when we would stop at a motel and spend the night. It would be the wee hours of a long day and the only sounds you heard were the sounds from the highway. So "the sound" came to mean vacation to me.
Last night I stopped at a gas starion right on the IL- MO border to fill up my car and I stood there pumping gas with my eyes closed and a spring breeze blowing my hair and the SOUND all around me. I never really took the time to notice before that the sound was so near until last night. I could not help but feel my dad all around too. He was in the wind. He was in the sound. So imagine my delight walking past the bathroom door last night and hearing The SOUND right in my own house!! It is like being on vacation....with my dad.
