This summer as we were traveling down I-35 towards Austin, TX, I asked my husband to take a short detour to the small community of Abbott, TX, which is just a couple of miles off the interstate. I had always wanted to see the place where my mother attended high school. Abbott just happened to be where Willie Nelson also went to high school.
The original high school was replaced many years ago, but it was neat to see the site where she attended even if it wasn’t the actual building. We drove a few more blocks to the main part of the community. There were a few old stores still there and I realized that my mother probably went to some of the stores when she was a teenager. And who knows, maybe Willie Nelson did also.
My mother passed away, and so it meant a lot to me to visit where she had been even though the school had changed. As we passed some old houses on the way back to the interstate, I thought about how some of my mother’s friends may have lived in those houses and she could have visited them. I could imagine giggling girls talking about the cute boys in their classes , just as I had done, and just as our daughter had done. Some things never change! 🙂
I agree that there is something powerful about experiencing the familiar scenes/places that our parents knew as mundane. I feel a strong connection to my parent’s history because I had the privelage of growing up on the same land my dad did, and visiting often my mother’s home area.
Thanks for your comment. After losing both my parents, I know what you mean about that strong connection to their history and their lives.