highway eighty.

earlier this week i drove to wills point, a place very dear to me from my childhood years. my journey started down highway eighty. you might as well have called it memory lane. i drove past so many places that were almost replaying my memories right before my eyes. it was amazing really, and even thinking about it now i can't help but smile just a little bit.

it starts by driving past ham's orchard where i worked for the better part of one summer. that's where i learned to pick out good fruit, how to deal with old people, and the value of good peach ice cream. even those who drove the train by the stand knew that stopping was worth it just for the ice cream. people come in buses to have really good fruit carried out with a smile [and an aching back]. it's good stuff.

then you drive through the big curves on your way to elmo. you go underneath the bridge where when i was a kid i was told you had to hold your breath when passing beneath it in hopes that it wouldn't fall on your head.

next comes the fina station. which now is actually a phillips sixty-six, but to me and my family will always be the fina. that's how you know you've made it to elmo, that little speck on the map that i spent some great years in. then there are some of the familiar other places like aunt kate's barbeque and the fireworks stand and the feed store and more.

after that come the houses. this one older man used to let us [us being my neighborhood friends, my sister, and i] play in his trees. we had many a clubhouse in many a tree. i even saw the really big tree that my older friends and i had our secret club in. i remember that i lied and said i was one place and really we were at that tree. they thought i had run away, and my mom came home from work early just crying and then she got mad and grounded me. i was ungrounded [if that's the right word] by the next morning. the lesson is not to lie, kids. the next house you pass is lance's old house. lance was one of kelsey's first boyfriends [thanks to jason, neighborhood boy, and i--at least i think his name was jason]. we would play at his house a lot because he lived next door to my grandfather, and we lived with my grandfather at the time. our families would carpool.

the next house is my grandfather's, my pepaw. i could say so many things about that house. i loved that playhouse he built for us. i remember vividly playing on the swing set and running around in his trees pretending that i knew how to use a compass. there was also the time when i was stranded in my treehouse because there was a snake at the bottom of my ladder. i don't know what we would have done without roy lee there to get rid of it, one way or another. driving the go cart in the back and being thrown out of it by my little sister's first drive. seeing our welded bethlehem star in the christmas season. family reunions and playing blitz with the grown-ups and winning are also among my favorite memories there. playing crack the egg on our rectangular trampoline, and exploring everywhere and asking questions so that i could write my own little news stories. i guess i was always a reporter. now the house is the home of not just my pepaw but my older sister malissa and her husband and their dogs. i'm glad to know that it will be part of our family for a long time.

after pepaw's house, we pass good old estate lane. home of max and pat along with their annual nativity scene, and the infamous trailer we used to live in, a regular lap of luxury. it had a whole wall of windows in the living room, and when it rained the front yard was one big puddle. mr. kitty, our cat, would sit on the roof when it rained. he refused to move when we did. i bet he's still around there sitting on rooftops in the pouring rain.

later we come to the place of my early education, wills point i.s.d. it brought back a lot too...walking to school, riding the bus, my childhood best friends, and so much more. even though i didn't get to go into the schools that i went to, i did get to see the new high school. now it's not so new, but i think i will always call it that. it reminds of malissa's high school graduation and running from the stadium to the gym in the torrents of rain while pepaw is holding me and our umbrella is turning inside out. goodness, we were cold during the whole ceremony. at the new high school, i also saw some old family friends. everyone is growing up so quickly. it's amazing to me how many years i have already lived.

though just a 20-30 minute drive from my home, it was almost like traveling into a whole different world. my memories were relived right before my eyes. i will always hold them dear. i wish everyone a happy childhood. and if you didn't get one, don't worry. there is still time. you know what they say, growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional. thank goodness for options.