Sometimes I wish that I had taken the time to write down all the stories about my eccentric and interesting relatives. My mother and father told me some of our rich history, and yet I only remember bits and pieces. That’s why I’m taking this time to dredge out memories from my past and write them down. I want to leave these stories with my child where I came from versus what my story is right now. I worry that I won’t meet up to his expectations, but at least he will know who I am, the good, the bad and the ugly of it all.

When I was home that last time, at my father’s funeral, my mom wanted to show me our old, covered bridge, the one we drove through to go to school every day. So, we walked down that long, dirt road. She also wanted to show me our favorite summer fun place. The covered bridge looked good. It had been restored and blocked off to traffic. The creek and river, however, were incredibly overgrown and polluted. The road did not go through the bridge anymore. The state had fenced it off and rerouted cars to a concrete bridge that crossed the river further down. We spent many hot summers down here my mother told me. All the kids would float on those old yet still inflatable truck inner tubes down the river.

I told her I remembered our two older boy cousins driving down to our house in their old pickup truck, honking the horn for us to come with them. The inner tubes were piled up in the bed and we would climb up and sit behind them. Then, they would fly back down the narrow dirt road as we bounced around in the back, screaming all the way up and down that hill past their house. Tires screeching, they would whip around at the covered bridge and park on the side of the road.

My mother laughed at the picture I painted and told me how I ran after them if they didn’t pick me up. We all loved the older cousins, and they took me everywhere, especially when they rebuilt that old red convertible. (Everyone knew about the beloved and fully restored, red convertible (and that is a story for another time).

Little did my mother know that I often ran down to the little creek that we called the spring on those long afternoon days that were so hot and muggy. It wound around and merged with the big creek that flowed under the old, covered bridge. It scared me to go there by myself and at the time, it seemed so far away, and yet I craved that solace. There were lots of water moccasins swimming in the depths, but I avoided them and never got bitten by one. Once I got there, I would pull off all my clothes and jump in to cool off, frogs and snakes scattering, birds squawking.

As we walked home at dusk, the whip-poor-wills started up, and this would be the sound I remembered, one that lulled me to sleep each night in my childhood.

Today, I regret not being able to say goodbye to my dear mother in person one last time. She died six years after my dad, but I couldn’t make it back home. She had so much influence over me, and I have accepted the good and bad of both my parents’ teachings. I try to hold onto the good parts, and I have forgiven all the bad parts.

I know that my childhood was my innocent time. I had everything that I needed. I cared about the entire world, especially the war (Vietnam), or the politics and racial tensions, but knew I couldn’t do anything about it. I would read the newspapers and books and learn about all of this, and draft essays about all the injustices for school papers, but I always dreamed of faraway places, both on earth and beyond. I looked at the stars every night from our porch until my mom called me inside. I thought to myself: “That’s where I’ll be someday. I’ll make a difference!” (I haven’t made it into space yet, but I can still dream!)

I have tried to take my good childhood memories and blend them with adult memories to make a better life for my family and me. I have embraced change yet cling to the lessons that were given freely to me. My unbidden advice is to take the wins of your earlier life lessons and let go of the rest. Embrace the future in a positive way, no matter how bleak it looks. Remind yourself that you are alive right now. Be happy, appreciate your life the way it turned out, and spread love to the universe. We never know what’s ahead of us, but we can try to have those daily moments of peace and kindness.

Hugs and Love to all.