Seems Like Yesterday.



Tonight we are in a peaceful campground in Kentucky....less than 100 miles from a place we visited often - Fort Knox. Laurie was stationed there for 3 years and we made the trip between Hamburg and Fort Knox more times than we could count. Yesterday and today, as we drove through Ohio, many memories of those drives came flooding back - they always do, don't they?
As we passed countless exits, there were many memories down those ramps. The town where Laurie always stopped for the night when she was driving home; the exit we took one cold December 23rd as we drove Laurie home for Christmas....in a snow storm that could not be believed. I remember to this day, the coziness of the motel room, the safety and peace Ron and Laurie and I felt being off the highway and warm and dry; of being able to tuck Laurie in and crawl into bed next to Ron...exhausted, but happy to be where we were - all together.
And there was the time when I drove by myself to visit her after she had been in an accident. A mom thing, you know? But we had a good time - and when I left to drive back home, I was so grateful for those days we'd had as mom and daughter.
This afternoon, as we crossed one of my favorite bridges which led from Cincinatti into Kentucky, I saw the sign I'd read tons of times...WELCOME TO KENTUCKY! It was always the second best part of the trip...the best of course when we pulled up to her barracks and saw her running down the stairs to greet us, or the smile on her face when she opened the door to her room and saw us.
Tomorrow, as we complete our trip to my sister's in TN, we'll go through some of the towns where Laurie would lead us to her favorite places for dinner - O'Charleys being one of them. Of course we will be in a hurry to get to our destination so no stopping at O'Charleys for lunch, but that won't stop the memories from coming back. Mmmmm...those fresh rolls, still warm from the oven and basted with honey butter.
Life is good - and memories sure help to make it so. Tomorrow when we go through Louisville, I will remember the night in 2002 when we took Laurie to pick up her new boyfriend from the airport. We were all there for the wedding of a friend of Laurie's and it would be the first time we would meet this new young man Laurie seemed quite smitten with. His name was Stephen. Laurie glowed all over as we walked through the airport with him, and I knew this was the man she would marry - and told her very quietly at the baggage claim that I thought I had just met my future son in law. We both cried a bit....and only 3 months later, he proposed to her.
See - does a mom know, or what? Sometimes, YES, we do. Isn't that cool?
The memories and the blessings keep flooding back - as though it was yesterday.
Thank you, Lord. For those days and all the days since.
God bless our troops, and those who wait.