~and just like always, she was right~
I made the trip home to Newkirk after school was out yesterday, a journey of nearly 4 hours and 242 miles of a drive. Except for the last 25 miles or so, it is all interstate highway which is a blessing for sure. The greatest obstacle to encounter is the time spent "white knuckling" it through Oklahoma City, something I dread like crazy each and every time. But just like I had to climb over the more than 11,000 ft. pass at Monarch Mountain whenever I drove back and forth from Montrose to Hutchinson, I now must plow my way through OKC if I wish to get home each weekend.
I got back safely at right before 7 last night, 3 hours and 45 minutes after leaving school. Was it ever a great feeling to see the sign that announces I am now home!
It is times like these when I sorely miss my sister Sherry. She was a great driver in her day and driving through the city never seemed to bother her one bit. Sherry just got behind the wheel and took off. In the final 2 or 3 years of her life, driving really wasn't something she could do safely any longer yet she was still the best navigator around. Any time I wanted to go home to Kansas, Sherry was the first person to volunteer to make the drive back with me. The two of us had some fun times as we went home to Reno County together. She was the "change girl" who had the task of digging through the coins in my car to find what we needed to pay the tolls on I-44 and I-35. Her other self-appointed task was to provide the snacks we would enjoy along the way, and it was always interesting to see what she might choose to put into the little cooler that rested next to her in the front seat. The two of us would laugh like a couple of high school girls whose folks had let them take the car to drag Main Street on a Saturday night in Hutchinson.
They were fun times and now they are gone.
In the last week of her life, Sherry and I had some very meaningful conversations. Some of them brought smiles to our faces while others brought tears to our eyes. From her bed in the rehab center at Altus, we two sisters made plans for our burial side by side back home in the little cemetery outside of our hometown of Haven, Kansas. We designed our own gravestone and talked about what it was like to grow up as Kansas farm kids. With a huge lump in my throat, I told her I didn't know how I would get along without her. Sherry assured me that I would do just fine, reminding me that she would always be with me in spirit and in my heart.
Actually, just like always, she was right.
Sherry's favorite song by the group Kansas was Dust in the Wind. It was played for her the day she retired from teaching in 2010 as well as the day we left her earthly body at Laurel Cemetery in the summer of 2017. Every time that I have heard it since then, I have taken solace. It has been as if it were a gift from her to let me know that all was well. Strange as it might seem to some, during the last two times that I have driven home, that very song has come on the radio. Both of the times happened to be when I was in the heart of that insane traffic. As cars were coming at me from both sides and I was afraid of missing a turn, the words to the song seemed to calm me down enough to get through it all. It was as if my sister was sending me a message.
Just for the record, Mike was the driver when this picture was taken. It's all I can do to make sure both hands are on the wheel and no one runs over me! I'm sure Sherry would want it that way.
I got back safely at right before 7 last night, 3 hours and 45 minutes after leaving school. Was it ever a great feeling to see the sign that announces I am now home!
It is times like these when I sorely miss my sister Sherry. She was a great driver in her day and driving through the city never seemed to bother her one bit. Sherry just got behind the wheel and took off. In the final 2 or 3 years of her life, driving really wasn't something she could do safely any longer yet she was still the best navigator around. Any time I wanted to go home to Kansas, Sherry was the first person to volunteer to make the drive back with me. The two of us had some fun times as we went home to Reno County together. She was the "change girl" who had the task of digging through the coins in my car to find what we needed to pay the tolls on I-44 and I-35. Her other self-appointed task was to provide the snacks we would enjoy along the way, and it was always interesting to see what she might choose to put into the little cooler that rested next to her in the front seat. The two of us would laugh like a couple of high school girls whose folks had let them take the car to drag Main Street on a Saturday night in Hutchinson.
They were fun times and now they are gone.
In the last week of her life, Sherry and I had some very meaningful conversations. Some of them brought smiles to our faces while others brought tears to our eyes. From her bed in the rehab center at Altus, we two sisters made plans for our burial side by side back home in the little cemetery outside of our hometown of Haven, Kansas. We designed our own gravestone and talked about what it was like to grow up as Kansas farm kids. With a huge lump in my throat, I told her I didn't know how I would get along without her. Sherry assured me that I would do just fine, reminding me that she would always be with me in spirit and in my heart.
Actually, just like always, she was right.
Sherry's favorite song by the group Kansas was Dust in the Wind. It was played for her the day she retired from teaching in 2010 as well as the day we left her earthly body at Laurel Cemetery in the summer of 2017. Every time that I have heard it since then, I have taken solace. It has been as if it were a gift from her to let me know that all was well. Strange as it might seem to some, during the last two times that I have driven home, that very song has come on the radio. Both of the times happened to be when I was in the heart of that insane traffic. As cars were coming at me from both sides and I was afraid of missing a turn, the words to the song seemed to calm me down enough to get through it all. It was as if my sister was sending me a message.
"You don't need to worry Peggy. Everything is fine. You'll be out of the traffic in just a bit."And just like always, she was right.
Just for the record, Mike was the driver when this picture was taken. It's all I can do to make sure both hands are on the wheel and no one runs over me! I'm sure Sherry would want it that way.
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