12 hours seemed a long drive.
He was next to me. I played on his iPhone. We chatted for hours about nothing. Listened to Juanes over and over again. Stretched our legs. Stopped for burgers. Drank coffee from a tin canister. Ate red grapes. Slept. Danced in our seats. Bought semi-fresh pastries from a gas station. Peed on the side of the highway. Checked out familiar scenery. Acted like it was new scenery. Sat in silence a few times.
The wagons were out. Hitched behind stationwagons – Audi, Saab, Volvo – stationwagons nonetheless. Mid April and thin sheets of white snow still coated fields as we moved from Sundsvall to Härnösand to Örnsköldsvik to Skellefteå to Luleå. Lakes still frozen but one dared not shuffle over them by foot in this spring heat.
We’ve been up and down this stretch of road many times before. At its end, we find aging loved ones.
—
Each time I met her, we always talked about meeting up for lunch or fika. “Absolutely!”. “We need to.” Something always came up. We got busy. Everyone seems busy. Seeds of solid friendship already planted. Procrastination. Lunches always delayed.
Today came with heavy news. Our lunch now forever delayed.
—
I’d canceled another trip to drive up that same stretch of road. One which would have provided unprecedented access, produced quality imagery and stories, and more “content” I could have easily sold.
We’ll eat semi-fresh pastries and hotdogs from gas stations; listen to Juanes over and over again; check out the same scenery; act like we’re discovering it for the first time.
Praying we find our loved ones still there at the end of the drive.
Lovely writing Lola. And I have a good guess as to who you are writing about. Take care.
@Everyone
Thanks so much. I can’t even imagine what her family must be going through. She was only 31.
Sorry to hear that you lost someone in your life. Very true that moments like these are good reminders to find balance in life and remember what your ultimate priorities are.
This was a lovely piece, despite the loss. <3
So sorry to hear about your loss, Lola. Thinking about you and so blessed to read this piece.
Oh Lola, I’m so sorry for your loss.
I’m sorry for your loss. I hope you found some solace on that drive and in its familiarity.
@Akila – I’m back now and gratefully family is doing fine. I got some shocking news about a friend this morning and still trying to fully process it. Times like these remind me to always put family and friends first and make them high priority on whatever to-do lists we’ve got.
Lola, I’m so so sorry to hear that you’re making one of these difficult drives. Sometimes, the difficult drives remind us to make more of those drives up the road.