Sweet Memories

I had a couple of errands to run last night after work, which took me through some back roads that I haven't traveled in several years.

As I approached a particular intersection and stopped I looked to my right. There sitting where it has for the last 35 years or so, was the little general store where Mom and I used to stop as we'd make our way up to my aunt's house on Bell Mountain.

It hasn't changed at all. The little gas station standing beside it is still in business. Seeing that store sent me rocketing back 36 years to a world and a time that I'd give anything to revisit one more time.

I have the fondest memories of those summer drives with my Mother in 1967. I was 16 years old and had just gotten my driver's license. My dad had given me a 1958 two-tone blue and white ford. Good thing too, since my Mom didn't drive and he wasn't around anymore.

Mom and I would stop at that little store and buy maybe $5 worth of gasoline (on a good day), although more likely than not it was probably closer to $2. We'd pick up a candy bar and a can of pop and bomb our way up to Aunt Audrey's where we'd stay visiting late into the night.

The radio would be on blasting the latest rock-n-roll song for all to hear, or sometimes we'd be listening to Country Western music.

Sometimes a farmer would be selling some produce on the side of the road and we'd promise each other to stop on the way back, knowing full well that it'd be midnight or later before we would be back this way on our way home.

Other memories of that time, all of them good, flooded my mind and my heart. I don't know how long I sat in that spot crying. Crying because I miss my Mom for the good times we shared and that now seem lost, and for the comfort and security that only my Mom could offer.

As I drove off from that spot and into the night I knew that I'd never truly be without her. Somehow the memories will always be there to keep me company.