Sunday Relaxation

You would probably wonder how a couple of retired people need relaxation.  We do little other than follow our grandchildren from sports field to sports field.  Or from swim meet to swim meet.  With the much needed rain and the cold of the past winter we have stayed in our apartment more than usual.

Today, Hubby wanted  to put the top up on the Jeep so he could drive it with all the rainy weather.  As luck would have it there was a break in the rain.  Using my waning feminine wiles, he was convinced to leave the top down and just head out of the city.  We did not even have the GPS turned on so for a while we just wandered westward.  Some of streets we turned on were full of upscale homes.  They appeared to have been built in the period of time when we were building our life together.

It was interesting the emotions evoked by the home styles.  The pitch of the roof lines.  Spanish courtyards and half-timber Tudor styles with the ultra straight line contemporary homes strewn along the winding streets.  For a moment or two I thought how pleasant it would be to be twenty something.  To be starting the journey for the first time.

To be planning to go to the Plan Shoppe to look at home plans.  The sign the contract with a builder.  To be young, flexible.  To have endurance and muscles.  To have more future than past.  The emotions surprised me a little.  Not usually one to look back and wish for that time.  Partly because of the pain of the journey traveled.  Not horrible pain but enough.  No desire to stand by as friends lose children.  Or marriages dissolve.  Or businesses fail.  The struggles through caring for aging parents.

And then the Jeep turned onto a different street that led out of the area.  Into an area with few homes.  An area of a two lane road with cedar covered hills on each side.  The recent rains have allowed the wildflowers to go crazy.  Fields orange, red, pink and some white.  Flower names reflect the old and diverse cultures of the Hill Country.  Mexican Hat, Indian Blanket, Indian Paint brush, bluebonnets, Drummond phlox, verbena, wine cup and evening primrose to name what we saw.

On Nameless Road twisting and turning through the hills balance was regained.  An appreciation for the life lived thus far.  The appreciation of the past with a nod to the last part of life.  One last long trip in the Jeep taking us to a family reunion and a little beyond.   One last unsupervised adventure with the man of my dreams.  Now that is relaxing.....