There really is a place called Memory Lane. I drove down it just last week.
On my way to lunch with my lifelong ‘sister pals’ in Arbuckle, California I cut through on the bumpy and winding Sycamore Slough country road. Immediately I knew why I took that route.
It was the last drive I took with my beloved cousin Tom Bowden many years ago.
We knew cancer would end his life soon. I spent 2 weeks visiting him every day on that visit to California.
That last time we knew we would be together we chose to take a drive together.
We toured the home county and finally he took me to my parents home in Grimes to say our final good-bye.
The hug was longer, the ‘I love you’s’ more heartfelt.
“Are you coming back for the funeral?,” he asked. Telling him I didn’t think I could he said it was just as well.
My last glimpse of him was a raise of his hand in goodbye when he walked away that day. That tall, lanky man walked away for the last time. My heart not yet mended broke.
So, the drive on that country road last week brought a flood of memories of Tommy Joe. We spent our lives together. Double cousins (our parents were brothers who married sisters) who were more like brother and sister. We spent a partial life time looking out for one another. We got into trouble together. We defended each other when we needed to do it.
Memory Lane does exist. It may be a country road somewhere, but the blessing is no matter where it is the memories are still there.
I will never stop missing Tom. Someday I will see him again. Until then I will never forget how much I loved him and how much he loved me back.
Life is good today.