They were both standing outside the vehicle in which they were traveling that day as I turned into the parking area at my cousin’s business. There before me was another cousin and her daughter (from another side of my family) traveling through to a destination in central Virginia. They had called the evening before to see if I might be available to go with them as they visited a couple of locations that the elder of the two female cousins (a few years older than I) had known and played in as a child. They settled in my car and as we turned a corner onto the road named after the lake and retreat area once owned by her father, she gasped as she recognized the house in which my grandmother had lived with one of her sons. Memories came rushing back for me as well as she shared loving thoughts of the times she recalled visiting Grandma (her aunt) at that house. Just a short distance down the road she recognized another house where a cousin of hers (my aunt) had lived. A few winding curves as we traveled west led us to the turn onto the road to the small lake and retreat campsite for which the main road had been named. Her daughter, now herself a grandmother, gasped at the enormity of the structure that once housed all the campers (including me on several occasions) many years ago. The elder cousin told of her father’s act of putting it up for auction whereby the Kiwanis Club of the city nearby purchased the property and maintained it for many years. We left there and drove to the farm next to my family farm that her mother and father had owned and that her mother had spent hours of loving care planting and harvesting a garden. Hearing her recollection of the events and experiences at the places that I had experienced differently was pure joy to this now aging possessor of Parkinson’s. Gratitude filled my heart as we hugged goodbye with promises to stay in touch. Full of thankfulness for the special memories elicited from the visit to places and spaces of my youth reminded me that each day is an opportunity to build upon memories yet to be created. May the experiences of today be driven by the vehicle powered with gratitude for yesterday and the joy of possibilities right now!
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