Backroads

Last weekend, we had a really nice Saturday.  It was sunny and a little cool.  Geoff and I had talked about taking the kids to the zoo, since I had gotten a Groupon a week or so before, but neither of us had the motivation to get up and moving that fast.  Instead, I cleaned out the car, vacummed and Armoralled it, and we took it out for a ride.

We piled in the kids and a couple of drinks and headed out on Highway 3.  We drove and drove and looked and sang.  We ate snacks, and saw the sights.  We were out there for 6 hours.  We made it to Aylmer and back.  By the end, we were all a little sore in the butt and needed to stretch our legs, but it was a great day.  Sebastian peed on the side of the road at least 3 times.  I did discover that if I or the kids talk about having to pee enough, we can drive Geoff to have to go badly enough to pull over. 

I love taking the back roads.  I will take them 9 times out of 10.  Unless I am in an absolute hurry, and the city streets are the best ways, I am taking the back way.  An old friend of ours, her kid used to quote me.   I don't really remember saying it, but I know we were on our way somewhere, and I decided to find a faster way down a dirt road.  When everyone wanted to know where I was going, I apprently told them, "every dirt road leads somewhere."  Maybe I will have that on my headstone. :)

It's pretty hard for me to get lost.  I have a decent sense of direction and Sebastian has inherited it from me.  By the time he was 4, he could directly me to turn left and right through the city to get to where he wanted to go- Papa and Grammie's house, Walmart, Tim Horton's..wherever. 
I'm not afraid to turn down roads I have never been down.  I know I can find my way out.  Sometimes you find good things. Most times, you find good things.

I love looking at the homes, sometimes with well manicured lawns, sometimes with broken down cars.  I love the smell in the spring of the fresh turned earth and newly mowed grass.  I love the smell of the summer, of cows and horses and growing things.  I love the smell in the fall, of wet leaves, and burning wood, and cold, cool wind.  I love the smell in the winter, of sharp snow, of fireplaces. 

I try to imagine myself in those houses.  I imagine my tree in the front window.  I imagine my kids running on the hills.  I imagine a garden, and a chicken coop.  I imagine a horse, and dogs.  I can picture my tractor, and how I would keep my barn.  I can see the paint peeling off the window sills, and see the lace curtains in the kitchen.  I can smell the wood, musky and damp, piled up near the house, to prepare for the winter.  I can see it, feel it.  I want it.

The rides down the backroads help.  Geoff is patient, and, I think, over the years he has grown fond of them as well.  Not quite as much as me, but still, not resistant. 

I think we might go for a ride tomorrow.  And see what we can see.

Rosie N. Grey
The N stands for "not in neutral".