May
28, 2014
My
instead: On the way to my client’s house
in Mascoutah, I detoured to revisit the country road where my Grandpa Merod was
raised.
After
my Grandma Merod died in 1986, I would take my Grandpa Merod on little
excursions to get him out once in a while. On one of these outings, he and I traveled
to Rentchler Station Road, the country road where he grew up. On that day, I
took a photograph of him standing in front of the land that he used to farm.
And
now 28 years later, I decided when I got up in the morning that I would travel this
road again in hopes of finding his land. It was a little bit of a detour on my
way to Mascoutah, but I was drawn to do this for some reason. I drove around
looking for something to remind me of where his land might be, but my memory of
that day was more of my grandpa and not so much about geography. I remember
that he was proud to show it to me and a bit reminiscent as well. After all, it
was in this “neck of the woods” where he met my grandmother, Amelia Schneider.
That
morning I found all kinds of discoveries like a covered bridge, man-made lakes
and subdivision upon subdivision. The countryside had indeed changed from 1986
and certainly from when my grandpa was a child and a young man. He shared with
me on our little expedition that he used to take a horse and buggy to town
(Belleville) and it was always an all-day affair. While driving on those back
roads now, I imagined him tooling along down the dirt road.
All
the changes since then, but still some similarities…blue sky, clouds and the
land.
I
just hope we can keep it that way…
No comments:
Post a Comment