You do something – you hear something – you remember something – you experience something – you see something – it sticks with you. You were impressed, touched, stirred.
You try to explain it to others, but you don’t have the right words. Or they just don’t seem as interested as you thought they’d be – expected them to be – hoped they’d be. That’s the way it is. But it’s still yours. Your memory. Your experience. It’s still there. You own it.So it was early in September when Ron and I travelled to Winslow, Arizona. I had seen pics of others “standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona,” and I hoped to make it a part of our Southwest trip. It was!
We camped in Flagstaff, so this was one little venture where we didn’t have to pull the travel trailer behind us. We drove about an hour on I 40, which is the “new” Route 66, but exited on the old, original Route 66 for the side trip through Winslow. I expected a cute little town filled with shops, rock music playing, lots of traffic, classic cars cruising, reminiscent of our days. Instead, it’s an old rundown town, with dried-out, unkempt stucco and block buildings. It was difficult to locate the corner Browne and Frey wrote about in their song, “Take it Easy,” recorded by The Eagles. We drove around several times finally seeing a little sign, directing us to the corner.
I must say we were both excited, but Ron -the most! For the next two hours, we traveled back in time. We were young again. Although his newer Dodge Ram sat in the public parking lot, it seemed we had actually driven his ’69 GTO into town. We stood on the corner and took photos. Oh my word – he insisted we kiss in one of the photos! What was happening to Ron! We browsed the souvenir shops and sat at an outside table, enjoying a cup of coffee.
I connected to the Eagles song on my IPhone and blared it as loud as I could. (Link and listen here, if you’d like!) We laughed together like old times. Then an unusual thing happened, Ron’s eyes welled up. He reached across the table, took my hand and said “This is so neat. I love you.” He said we should Facetime the kids and show them what we were doing, but we didn’t. Looking at each other, we both knew they wouldn’t understand. “Take it easy” wasn’t a part of their time. We looked around us at the few dozen tourists on and around the corner. They were all about our age. I wondered if they were young again, as well, while in this town. It was a great two hours, invigorating, youth-renewing. It was our memory. It was our experience. It’s still there. We own it.
Now during this Advent Season, with Christmas approaching, our minds flood with memories of the Christmases past. Tomorrow I’ll share another with you. One I own.
