Tuesday, September 22, 2020

The road goes on forever.

October is the time when men think mostly about far places and the roads which might get them there...Stephen King "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut." 

   I have long been of the opinion that this life is a pale reflection of my real home. It just seems like if I can get still and meditate I will see the real world. Right there. Just beyond the horizon. It's why I have always loved the road. Something about a two lane road heading over the hill and to who knows where has always intrigued me. I mean you could go anywhere. Maybe that road leads to Narnia if I could just keep going. Stopping along the way to revisit parts of my life that I didn't do right the first time. Maybe looking in on my younger self to let him know that most of that really serious stuff is just stuff and if he relaxes it will be a smoother ride. 

One of my favorite Stephen King stories is a little known short story. I think it's in the Skeleton Crew collection. It's called "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut." Mrs Todd is a young woman married to a hard driving successful man. They have a lake house or vacation home in rural Maine. Mrs Todd is young and pretty and a free spirit. An older local named Homer who works for the tourist and keeps up the part time residents summer homes during the Winter strikes up a friendship with her. She has a really nice vehicle. Now if memory serves it might have been a Mercedes. I'm not sure. Anyway, Mrs. Todd is forever speeding around the town and trying to find the shortest route to a big city and back. It might be Boston or it might be Bangor it's been a while since I read the story. Homer is talking to one of his buddies and telling the story of Mrs. OPhelia Todd. Homer is now in his 70's and was already older when he met the young Mrs Todd.

Anyway, she is constantly telling the old timer about her trips. About how much time she's shaving off and her shortcuts. Finally, he agrees to go with her. It's  a wild ride and it seems as if time and space are folding around them. Creatures  that look just a little off are quickly glanced out the window. Not quite a normal beaver or dog or fox. Not quite sure but the birds look a little different and the trees have some sort of will. They seem to move a little. It's exciting and scary at the same time. Something seems to come at them and when they get back there does seem to be the remains of some creature on the front of the car. But, surely it's a stray coyote or something. Anyway during the trip she also seems to transform. She becomes like Diana the Goddess for him. 

Speeding across the sky or in this case  the road in her chariot. She looks beautiful and dangerous and seems to no longer be the housewife of the rich man at home. She's Diana Goddess of the Hunt. They are in a different realm and once they get home Homer takes his leave quickly and gets back to his aging wife and the safety of home.

But, Mrs. Todd is forever talking with Homer about how much time she is shaving off on her trips. She still invites him to come along but he always finds a way to decline. He wants to go. He may even be in love with the young woman. But, he just can't make that leap. Finally one day he talks with her and she tells him she has found a new path. A new shortcut that she will try today. While she talks he can see the Goddess Diana. He knows that this time will be the last time. She invites him but he declines again. The last time he ever see's her is as she is pulling away. Forever young. Forever the Goddess of the Hunt. 

So, years later he's telling the story to his buddy about the long missing Mrs Ophelia Todd. Her husband remarried after a proper time. And of course time moves on but Homer wonders where Mrs. Todd is. He can hear the sounds of the hunt and the carriage bearing Diana. She found a road that led to a different place. A different road. Maybe a road that goes on forever.

I always liked that story. I read it and read it again and not to long ago read it again.I love the idea of a road that goes forever. You never know what might be over the next hill. The next bend. Maybe it will be a world where people fly starships and there has never been death or decay or slavery or murder. Maybe the sky is eternally blue and the grass a green that is so deep that you just feel like rolling and running through it. Flowers and smells, colors and scents that you have never experienced before. 

Old broken relationships repaired and lost things found. Maybe, just around the bend. Just over the hill. It's a place of light and hope and everything is done out of love and out of relationship. I know it's there. Sometimes if I'm really quiet and still I can just see it. Just almost reach out and touch it. I dreamed it was so and so I know it is. 


Peace.

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Kickin' it with Jesus on I-59

 Last day of August around 11:00 AM on I-59 heading into the Ham as the locals (especially the radio personalities that long to be eternally cool called Birmingham.) Man that sky is blue and the clouds are fluffy and white. The day is beautiful. Reminds me of when I used to visit Grandma Snead right before she passed. The  sky outside her room would look so blue and the clouds so white. She was by that time bent and hurting from Rheumatoid Arthritis. I wondered if she noticed how bright the day was. I thought of how short life is and I always wanted to take advantage of those bright days while I could.

I like to thank that she (and I really believe she has) found the next part of the journey filled with bright days and a healthy body or vehicle  for her spirit.

 Thanks for the day. I am of course nervous since it's a cardiology check up and Echo but still it's beautiful.
 Jesus: Now why would you be nervous? 
"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be rushed into the hospital. Probably my heart valve will come loose in the parking lot. My BP will be so high that my head will explode and I'm pretty sure I will be committed to the hospital ICU and that I'll catch Covid and die."
Other than that. I'm good.

Jesus: You can be silly. 
"I get that from you. or at least from your pop's."  

Anyway, now I've decided that the heart is fine. But, this mole on my face that just popped up? I'm pretty sure my jaw is going to plop into my cereal one morning soon."
Jesus: "Jaysus, you are a worrier ain't ya?" 
Me: I doubt Jesus would say that and I highly doubt he would use his own name with an exaggerated American attempt at an Irish accent  but I try to find humor where humor is due. 

Anyway, he's put up with my humor so far. It's how I stay sane. 
I really am thankful for the day. I know that life has passed really quickly and it seems like yesterday I was just a kid and I swear I still expect to see a 22 year old me when I look in the mirror..

Jesus: You know that even if or when your heart did or does collapse or if  your jaw did fall off into your cereal I've still got you. 

Me: I do.know. I may not be a really religious person these days. But, I firmly believe that as long as I AM that you will be there. IT's one of those  reasons that all though it makes the fundamentilist mad and the atheist rolls their respective eyes I don't fear eternal torment. But, that's my journey and I don't preach. I don't listen to others preaching at me either.

I remember after my heart surgery when the valve stitches were coming loose and I was told I would have to either have more surgery which my heart was possibly too weak to survive or a procedure to repair the valve. Which the surgeon at the hospital wasn't very experienced in doing.

 Cindy came through via her phone and internet and found Doctor Ahmed who was at Princeton at the time and now at U.A.B.. As I was being transferred to Princeton Hospital via ambulance  I just felt  that God had shot me into the universe from a giant pinball machine but that I was headed exactly to where I needed to be at the time. 

Jesus: I had you.
Me: I kind of feel that right now. Thank you.
Jesus: Love never fails.

Life is short. Enjoy the journey and if you ever find yourself heading down the highway or interstate remember that the trip is short but the journey is eternal. 

Peace.