Can You Go Back?

Last weekend Russ and I traveled up to our old stomping grounds to attend his family reunion. Can you say ROAD TRIP?! We were something like 7 hours on the road with Jazzy, the Boston Terrier cruiser. On the way, we stopped at Lamberts, the "throwed roll" place. YUMMO!

Then, we veered off course to stop in Louisiana, Missouri. Russ and I were both born in that town, grew up there, and became the cliche' of the late 70s when we met as high school sweethearts. For this road trip we wanted to see the Mississippi River. You just can't take the river out of a river-town kid. I remember my dad letting us get Dairy Queen treats and driving us to the river to watch the boats, barges, and fishermen go by. On this trip to the river, since we had no kids in tow, we took our Jazzy to see how she would react. She very cautiously walked up to the water,and every time the water would lap up onto the edge, she'd back away like she had seen a ghost. Then she would creep back to river, curiosity getting the best of her, only to get scared by the next splash of water—water that smelled like fish and mud. Thirsty, her tastes ran more for the bottled water in the car than the stinky Mississippi River. Silly girl!

While walking the Riverfront, I saw a gentleman working outside a building. I wondered who he was. Then it dawned on me that any middle-aged person in this town was probably someone I went to school with. Oh yeah! I wasn't 18 anymore. I left the town at that age and still felt I was that age when I returned. These people who looked like my parents were really my classmates. Am I really that old? I'm actually OLDER than my mom was when I left Louisiana. I was tripping on this trip down memory lane!

The town itself looked cleaner and quainter than I remember seeing a few years ago. It was no longer MY town, but it looked like a place where I'd go antiquing. Would I find remnants of MY childhood in the antique shops?