Re-visiting a memory

As I walk the beauty surrounds me

It envelops me like a warm blanket.

I feel the warmth of the colors

And breathe in the cool, crisp air.

I could never ask for a more perfect day

With leaves rustling beneath my feet

And the sounds of gravel below.

This is the way to grandmother’s house,

Take a left at the end of the lane

Cross over the hill to your right,

And you will find her dwelling there

Nestled beyond the pond

Among the mighty oaks.

An not too far from the edge of the road,

You’ll spot her hand carved sign

The sign that says you’ve reached

Her beloved “Shady Oaks.”

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Fall reminds me of going to grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving Dinner so many years ago. Soon after moving to the South, I discovered the beauty of the seasons. It started with the glorious colors of fall, soon followed by wintry scenes of snow. I remember my first sightings of a snowflake well…it’s something I’ll never forget, just as I’ll never forget those Thanksgiving Dinners at grandmother’s house.

Yesterday, while in Cynthiana, I found myself parked in the same parking lot where I first saw my very first snow flake. The memories of so long ago came flooding back to me when I realized where I was. It was in the fall of 1962, I was 18 then and had been in the grocery store shopping. When I strolled out of the store, with a full buggy cart of groceries, there they were…the BIGGEST snowflakes falling from the sky. Up to that point in my life I had only read or seen snowflakes in movies. Not thinking, I quickly abandoned my grocery cart right outside the doors, and went running through the parking lot catching snowflakes in my hands and watching them quickly melt away. I was mesmerized by the falling snow never once thinking of what I might have looked like to passerby’s…probably like some crazy person! Jim called to me finally and broke the spell after a few minutes of explaining to the people coming out of the store that I was from sunny California and had never seen snowflakes before. They seemed to understand and besides that I was just a kid, who thought that she was all grown up at that time.

This morning Sharon called and told me that there was snow falling in Cynthiana…I missed it by one day. Now how perfect would that have been yesterday to realize where I was parked and then for it to suddenly start snowing, I’d have to get out there and catch those falling snowflakes once again…and if anyone asked what I was doing, I’d simply say that I was visiting a memory.