Out and About

This past week I went to Deerfield Beach for a Florida Press Association and Intersect Media Solutions board meeting. Deerfield Beach is south of West Palm Beach which equals a very long drive. I left on Tuesday around 2 p.m. and had a 3 p.m. meeting about Navarre’s Centennial, a 4 p.m. meeting and a 5 p.m. meeting on the road and over the phone while I drove to Jacksonville for the first leg of my journey. The following day, I had phone meetings all the way down to Deerfield Beach which was more than ten-hour trip (in total) and made it go a lot faster. After my meetings on Thursday, I drove to Orlando to pick up my sister at the airport to celebrate her milestone birthday that starts with a 6. On a whim, I called the owner of my grandparents’ old house in Cocoa, where I used to visit them. I would take a Greyhound bus from Orlando to visit them for weeks at a time from the time I was 7 years old until I was a teenager. We wouldn’t dare put a seven-year-old on a Greyhound bus today. The owner said the tenant was out of town and he was able to get permission from her for us to tour the home. The owner lived across the street from my grandparents and bought the circa 1922 home in 1997from them when they moved out to my parents’ home. He had very fond memories of them and was a very good neighbor. I can’t really explain the experience of being there almost 40 years after the last time I was there. I could picture my grandfather sitting in his overstuffed chair watching golf, baseball, and “All in the Family” with his pipe and the smell of Prince Albert in the air. My grandmother was always busy in the kitchen or sitting on the couch doing the crossword puzzle in the paper, or at church practicing the organ where she served as the organist for 50 years. She always had candy corn in a covered glass dish that we would get as a special treat – one at a time. We were also allowed to drink Coca Cola – one Dixie Cup full – which was a real treat. There was a room where I would spend hours reading books. You never know what the special memories will be 40 years later when you are living through them – your memories before they are memories. Kind of analogous to today’s news being tomorrow’s history. The new owner told us that my grandfather’s picture was in a book in the Florida History Museum in downtown Cocoa, so we went there next.  We found our mom’s high school yearbook from Cocoa High School and saw that she was voted “Most Athletic” and “Best All-Around.” She was a cheerleader, a basketball player, and on the school newspaper staff. She passed away about 18 months ago and she was ready to go. My sister reminded me of the last conversation she had with her over the phone before she died. Mom basically said something like, “Well, this is probably the last time I’ll speak with you, and I can’t wait to get out of here.” Dying is just as much a part of life as living – and she lived an awesome life and I’m happy that she shared her life with me. Some might think she didn’t have a choice – but she did. She adopted me and three other children.

Quote of the Week: “Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.” Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) A Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself rejected the title.