I'm not feeling well today and I know why. I'm thinking that writing about yesterday, before I forget the essence, will make for a good pickmeup. Mike had rented a Harley again Sunday and you'd think I'd be all for a ride on a Monday but I just wasn't that up to it (since my "to do" list had already sunk in for the day). It didn't take long after we headed up the highway to have a swing in my mood. He had burned and brought a CD with new songs like: "Back Road", "Shake It for Me", and "Tomorrow" (which is a bit of an anthem for us). The music, the wind, the "on the road to wherever" overpowered my task oriented mentality.
It didn't take long for him to find us something to do. We ended up at Shelton Vineyards, which has pristine grounds, and turns out to be the largest on the east coast. So, he picked a fine location for our first wine tasting and tour. Immediately my thought was that, "Wouldn't I just have to wear my ripped up jeans and black T-shirt to such a place?" I thought our fellow tourists would be uppity; but, no, they weren't. They were quite entertaining actually. I learned a lot and had a good time doing it. Since I have the "cheap" preference of sweet wine, I came out to the good with a "bargain" they had on a mixed case of such. My dear husband bought it for me and packed it onto to that motorcycle in 3's and I'm pretty sure is expecting me to be in nothing but a welcoming mood each time he returns home, seeing how I will have reassurance of a "boost" now.
Just as we got back on the highway, the rain began to fall. I didn't tell him but I wish we could have just kept riding in it. Instead, we stopped under a bridge to put on rain suits. Funny thing was that I had put on HIS suit, so the one he put on was "small" and he required "assistance" to pull it off as he sat on the concrete. We finally got situated, just to stop in a few more miles to strip them off again. When I got the mountains in my view, I drew a breath, not for fear, but because part of me still calls it home. It feels different there; it looks different there - the lush moist green highlighted with huge orange Azaleas and fuschia Rhododendrons. It smells different there, especially on a bike passing the roadside Peonies and honeysuckle. Along with the serenity, we had to take the meetings of snakes in the road, which I can't do without a chill running through my spine. We were on the Blue Ridge Parkway and didn't pass anyone for miles. (I love that it was constructed with the dual purpose of national preservation, as well as, defense.) It IS different there and I'm glad we aren't too far away to visit on a whim.
Mike had more than the view in mind as we wound our way to Shatley Springs Restaurant. Now, for those of you who haven't been fortunate enough to have been served a "homestyle" meal, I'll give you detail. They bring out bowls of vegetables (real potatoes, gravy, corn, cooked cabbage, slaw, pintos, green beans, +), plates of meat (southern fried chicken and cured ham), baskets of biscuits/cornbread, and as always sweet tea, stewed apples, and cobbler. SO, when we left, we definitely looked the part of bikers because "holding it in" was no longer an option.
Just a few miles away sits our home we left 3 years ago. At that time, it appraised (in the middle of renovation) at MORE than $60K than the investor bought it for after Mike's Aortic Bypass. It's an easier pill to swallow now that it's still empty and for sale at $15K LESS than he paid us. As we drove up the long driveway, recall was inevitable. As we drove away, I wholeheartedly thanked God for letting me spend so many years there to raise the children. We stopped to see our sweet elderly neighbor, Mrs. Poe, who treated us as her own. There she was with a smile and living her life after the passing of her husband she had more than half a century. I hope to be like her - everactive and evercheerful, even in her present state.
We rode through town to see the changing shops - that were becoming vacant when we first moved there, until the tourist attractions of galleries and fine dining took hold. Mike drove with some reservation to meet up with the father and brother of his recently deceased friend. We hung out there in the wrecker shop for a while trying to make sense of what had happened. The normally quiet older brother followed us out into the dark and reminded us to keep communication with our brother and sister because, "You just don't ever know ..." I thought on that for much of the ride home down the mountain through the cold pockets of foggy air. How can any of us take a thing in this world for granted?
I was relieved to drive up to lights on in the house meaning that Miranda had successfully gotten one to practice and one to a game with the others in tow and made it home. She had also taken them to the park, grabbed some slushies, and rummaged through things for the pond at Dollar General. The wide eyed looks of delight we get from the little ones upon our returns is always refreshing. The day had been so very good that I wanted to write about it then, but a husband lay in wait and deserved my time. I've done plenty of writing about the awkward return of emotion between us, so I simply must tell you of the ease that we are coming to. I have refrained from a particular thing or two in the last year or so, not wanting to feel pressured or dutiful in my detachment; but last night I was released/uninhibited and, well, Mike went to sleep happy.
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