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 A new blog to contain answers to prompts |
Since my old blog "Everyday Canvas "  became overfilled, here's a new one. This new blog item will continue answering prompts, the same as the old one. Cool water cascading to low ground
To spread good will and hope all around.  |
| Prompt: Road Trips “As we crossed the Colorado-Utah border I saw God in the sky in the form of huge gold sunburning clouds above the desert that seemed to point a finger at me and say, "Pass here and go on, you're on the road to heaven.” Jack Kerouac, On the Road What do you think of road trips? Do you have any memories you'd like to share with us? ---------- I've been on so many road trips that I have even forgotten or mixed up the destinations, but I do remember the road trips fondly, perhaps not in their entirety but through their incidents. This is because each road trip was an adventure in itself with two young rambunctious boys in the back seat while my husband and I sat in the front, with one of us driving and the other minding the map, just because in those days, there was no GPS. Unlike Jack Kerouac, instead of noticing God in the sky, we were keen on keeping our boys in good humor, well-fed, entertained, and their bathroom needs taken care of. Also, we liked the open road and the discoveries it presented at each stretch. There was always something new and something to aah and ooh about. Many times we pulled over to see a roadside oddity, stopped at a roadside diner, or changed our route if it fit our needs at that time. Maybe, this was because we humans have an inborn craving for exploration. I know I got a huge satisfaction when the world rolled by like a living slideshow. In that slideshow, we went through forests, deserts, mountains, small towns, and big cities. For me, those big cities vs the small towns lost the game for I always saw something of myself in a small town. It may be because I may be a hopeless romantic or maybe I like discovering hidden places and making unexpected memories. Also, of course, there was the connection and coming together as a family in a confined place. Usually it went very well...until...the last time. The last time we took the boys with us on a road trip was the drive from San Diego to San Francisco. Since we had flown from NY to California, we ended up in a rental car, which neither of us was comfortable driving. So my husband volunteered, possibly to spare me. Then, halfway through the trip, our two sons started arguing, which led to some physical exchanges between them in the back seat. Now, we were driving on the side of a cliff, where the side of the road dipped into a precipice which, to me, looked like an abyss. My husband couldn't take the boys fighting anymore and with his right arm he reached to them to hit or stop them. I became so scared, but held myself from screaming. I said, "You just drive. I'll take care of them." Then, I told the boys right out, "If you don't stop right now, we'll all die because we're on a dangerous road." It must have been something in my voice or the way I said it, which possibly scared them and they stopped. This was why it was the last time we took the boys with us on a road trip. We still went to places as a family, but in planes and trains and taxis. The road trips, however, continued for the two of us if or when we could find overnight babysitters, until after they grew up and flew the coup. Then, our adventures, however small, began again offering us their simple pleasures: gas stations coffees, old motels by the side of the roads, hearing personal stories of the motel employees and guests, sunsets over highways where we'd never driven before, the view of the ocean from a high cliff... Now that I'm alone, just thinking about those road trips makes me smile in contentment. This is because my best moments came from being willing to go and to keep going. |
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Like your book club, the members changed and it just wasn't the same.
