Memory Lane (SOL18 #6)

Accelerate, brake, repeat. 

My ride to and from work doesn't change, give or take a little traffic on any given day. I only live about 20 minutes away from school, but I find those twenty minutes are a blur of accelerate, brake, repeat. I barely even think about the simple act of driving anymore.

Today, like every other day, my mind was elsewhere. I was thinking about my ever growing to-do list and what I would tackle when I got home. What would I make for dinner? What's on the DVR tonight? When does that new episode of that podcast release? 

I stopped at the red light and really took the time to look at my surroundings. That stoplight was a very familiar place. The light you would turn at to get to my childhood house. I decided to deviate from my route and make that familiar turn toward my old block. 

My mom still lives in my childhood house, but I don't visit there as much as I should. (Don't get me wrong... I see my mother ALL the time, I just avoid the house) Just being there is hard for me. Too many memories of what was. 

I parked on Vernon and stared out the window at the red bungalow. It looks smaller. I know the house did not shrink, but it definitely looks smaller. As I stared, a flood of memories returns. 

Playing in the side yard. 

Learning to ride a two wheeler with my dad hanging on to the seat of my bike until I felt confident enough. 

Shooting baskets with my brother on our basketball court.

Family dinners. 

Hanging with my Grandma Hull making playing card castles in her bedroom.

Concocting potions with the bush berries alongside the garage. 

So many memories with my full family. 

As my eyes welled up, I took the car out of park and drove away. Instead of my to-do list, the rest of my ride would focus on those memories. 

Truly a trip down memory lane and missing what was.