Yesterday's Memories

I could not find my original photo, which is why I kept putting off this posting. Here it is, the last day again, so I finally decided I would just take a picture of my large photo, and make do. This is #5 & 6 of my children, nearly 17 years ago.

From my very earliest memories, we took a particular road to our summer convention. It wasn't the only route, just one that my mother particularly liked. It wound up and down hills, and thru the unique beauty of Nebraska's quiet sandhills. Very few towns or traffic. About 2/3 of the distance of the 4 hr. trip, there was a little road-side rest stop. Mind you, not our typical today's interstate rest areas, but just a little "pull off the side" stop. It had an outhouse, a working pump, a wishing well, a swing set and a picnic table, complete with a little pole roof cover. It also had a mailbox fastened to one of the poles, with a notebook & pencil on a string for a guest-book. This was all provided & maintained by an area woman's club. This stop was the high-light of our trip to convention. The place where we could use the out-house, run around a bit, sometimes we had a lunch to eat and Mom would comb our hair, & freshen us up a bit, because we were "just about there!"

After I was married, this was one of my requests, to also take this particular route to convention, and my kids grew up with the same routine. Over the years the area has deteriorated due to lack of up-keep & neglect. Maybe the club decided it was unnecessary, or maybe there was no longer any club to even care for the place.
Today it has become overrun with weeds & high grass. The outhouse is there but the rest, even the pump is now gone. When we do travel that road now often we don't even stop, but on the occasion we have, I stand quietly; listen to the wind softly blowing thru the trees, watch the grass move & hear & "see" down thru the years, the joyful memories of childhood.