Lila ~ May 18

 

Every summer, we’d take a big family vacation to Virginia to visit my grandmother at 206 Rose Hill Circle for 2 weeks.  These trips were the highlight of my summer.  We’d get on 1-84 across the Beacon-Newburgh Bridge, onto I-87 south, through Jersey to I-81 through Pennsylvania Maryland, West Virginia and then Virginia. I loved stepping into that world.  We’d finally arrive at Grandmother’s house, and I’d run up the front path, surrounded by the smell of boxwoods to the front porch and creaky front door where she’d greet me.  Stepping into her home was like stepping into a different time and place.  

Each year, grandmother aged a little bit more.  I’d hear the sound of her shoes as she hobbled to the front door, shoes that were handmade by a cobbler out in the country somewhere.  She had thick, metal rimmed glasses that seemed to get sharper with each passing year.  One year, her appearance scared me. 

I’d play with my cousins, Braxton and Elspeth, who lived locally.  Braxton was 6 years our senior and had a great time hanging out with my dad.  They’d go bike riding  and visit Crutchfield (like Radio Shack) and junk yards and tinker with cars.  They’d also sit on the front porch and do crossword puzzles together out of the daily paper.  It was nice to watch my dad have someone that he could do fun things with. 

One summer, there was a big thunderstorm, the kind that usually rolls through on a summer afternoon.  That’s how it was back then, in Virginia, and at home in New York, too, during the summer.  The morning and midday would be bright and sunny.  But once the afternoon rolled around, all the moisture and humidity from the day would accumulate and thick gray clouds would fill up the sky.  From about 3 to 5 pm, there’d be thunderstorms and rains watering and nourishing the ground, causing fruits and vegetables to grow, and the grass to grow thick, too.  My dad sat in the middle of the front porch, on a folding chair, just watching the rain.  It went on and on.  I started to get worried, so I went to the porch and asked him, “what are you doing?  Do you want to come in?” 

“No,” he said.  He was fine there, just watching the heavy rain. 

 

…

 

A few days after my father died, the whole family arrived for the funeral.  Aunts, uncles and cousins, my mother’s family from Virginia all came.  There was a massive thunderstorm that day, that hit mid-afternoon, right as family were arriving.  They all pulled into the driveway right as the storm lifted.  We gathered outside into the driveway, as a double rainbow appeared in the sky. 

After everyone settled in, Braxton said that he wanted to go for a walk to the gas station, so that he could buy a newspaper.  He returned a little while later, with no newspaper.