On The Road Again

The chill of the air is different this morning from the others. There is a higher humidity which causes the cold to stick to you. All you want to do is stay curled up in the warm blankets. But your dog walks on top of you and lays down. She nudges the blanket trying to get you up. You lay there trying to fake you're asleep. She starts to paw you and you reluctantly get up. She stares at you with her beautiful, dark brown eyes. She wants to eat so she sits there staring-waiting. You grab her bowl and get some food. She still just waits and stares. You set it down on the floor and she runs over and starts to eat as if she hadn't eaten in a week.

You go outside your parents are working on getting the remaining items cleaned up and into storage. You help move a table and some barrels out of the way. Now that everything is put away, it is time to say goodbye to everyone. You go down to Whitney's pasture. She is waiting at the fence for you to give her a treat. You bring her a half a loaf of bread. She starts nickering. You give her the first piece of bread. She slobbers your hand up while she devours the bread. You throw some pieces on the ground so she can walk around to find them.

Walking into your grandparents house, your uncles dog runs up to you. You give her a big hug and some pets and she wanders off to go eat. You say goodbye to your grandparents, uncle, brother. Then you slowly walk out to the vehicle and climb in.

After you leave the house you head for your other grandfather's house in Oregon. You watch out the window, trying to spot an animal, but you don't see any except for birds. You arrive at the restaurant and as you turn into the driveway you see your grandpa walking around. He hasn't seen you yet and is actually on the phone with your dad. Your dad tells him to turn around, but he turns the wrong way. When he turns the right way he realizes you are right behind him. You visit with him for a couple hours and then continue on down the road, stopping along the way to visit a cousin you haven't seen in years. While visiting with her you look at some old family recipes that your dad had forgotten. It is like reclaiming an old treasure.

You cross into Washington and the sun is setting. It leaves a fire in the sky, unlike any sunset you have ever seen before. You take your Sony and start snapping pictures. You don't want to lose this moment. Because once a moment in life passes it is gone forever. You can't return to them. All you can do is take pictures and keep the memories that go along with them.

Eventually you stop at a rest area for the night. You claim the last spot there. You are so tired and you feel like you could fall asleep just sitting up. You climb into bed and lay down. You don't notice the deep darkness that surrounds you as you fall asleep.