Precious Memories

Looking back over my life so far, there have been lots of good times, but there are things that stick out in my mind. My dad had a bad heart, he had a pacemaker for over half of his life, and was on total, permanent, disability from my earliest memory. His health went through good times and bad. One of my best memories of Dad happened during one of the good times. It was during one of my summer vacations during high school. Mom had taken the car and gone to work, and it was at some point before I got my car. Dad and I had lunch, and then got to thinking about how good some ice cream would have been right about then. Well, of course, the country store that was 50 yards from our front door didn't have what we wanted, so we walked the two and a half miles to the country store in the next town over to visit the Ice Cream stand that they have there, and then enjoyed our cones on the walk home. That has to have been the longest single walk I ever took with my dad, and what a great time we had. Now, a long walk with Dad may have been a very rare event, but some of my best memories with Mom are of the many long walks we took together. A three mile walk with Mom was not at all uncommon. We would talk, and we would sing, and we would walk. Picture the two of us walking down the road singing hymns at the top of our lungs, on key, off key, who cared, we had a great time. Sometimes we took the dog, but mostly he slowed us down. Mom still loves to go for walks... it would probably be good for me too. Then there was the time Grandma and I walked to the top of the hill behind her house, no small task for a woman in her late 70's at the time, as it was a big hill. I guess what it comes down to is the memories we build when we just take the time to do something together, when we're not in a hurry, and just spending time together.