The Road

 You, who are on the road. Must have a code that you can live by....Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

 I once read a book about the afterlife based on the author's experience but written in fiction form. One of the most intriguing things in the book was a road the main character walked after dying in this world. 

He was walking on a road that was eternal. He could stop along the way and manifest a beautiful mansion or a seaside cottage or a mountain dwelling. But sooner or later he was back on the road. Because as he walked along the road he would encounter people, pets & places from the life he had just lived.

On this two lane highway 

Is going my way, moving fast

Two lane highway

Is taking me home, home at last...Pure Prairie League

I think the image of the road has always intrigued people. I know it has me. I was born in Gadsden, Alabama but I spent much of my childhood in rural Altoona/Walnut Grove, Alabama. The sight of a blacktop road or highway in the sunshine leading around a tree lined bend and through the woods has always fascinated me.

A dirt road in the country leading up into the hills and beyond. Roads could be heading anywhere. Maybe around the next bend will be a town or city you've never seen before. Magic could be just beyond that hill over there. Or even right up there on a Alabama summer day where the blacktop is shimmering in the hot sun.

 I had a friend who I used to walk some of those country roads with. He was a gentle person but country tough. A simple dude not highly educated. Socially awkward but loyal to the end with his friends and family.

Religion and his own inner loneliness killed his hope in this world. An angry god who could send and leave his loved ones in eternal torment along with the self righteous church folks pretty much convinced him that there was no real hope. 

The message of unconditional love that never fails just couldn't compete with the hellfire of the frozen few. So he took his life. I think about old friends and my family that have gone before me these days.

 So the image of a road where I can look over and see my friend walking beside me again is a wonderful thought. To stop at my grandparents house and sit with my granddaddy around a pot bellied stove one eternal morning. 

The character of the book also came upon a neighborhood store from his childhood. How fun would that be? I could walk into my neighborhood store in Walnut Park which was my old neighborhood. Get a coke for a dime a bag of barbq chips for a dime and get a candy bar for a nickle and sit on the bench out front with my friends the Hooks brothers. 

Roads are always a symbol of freedom. But the best road is the one that leads home. It's evening and you see that bright yellow light shining through the window as you approach home. The place of sanctuary and peace. 

Rest up and enjoy familiar surroundings and sooner or later get back to exploring. Because the road goes on forever.

The long and winding road that leads to your door. Will never disappear I've seen that road before...The Beatles

I've heard a lot of opinions about what happens when we die. I have my own ideas and some life experience  to draw from. But this isn't my opinion on what we will encounter when we drop this body. 

This is simply a rambling thought process of "what if?" I don't think the afterlife is a static road but there might be a road that goes on forever involved.

 

After all. All roads eventually lead home. I don't do religion these days. At least not a one size fits all. I still have my faith though. I think eventually love wins! 

Peace!