Prep

My son, daughter-in-law and grandson were just here for the weekend. It took five of us several trips to unload their car when they arrived. In addition to clothes and several pair of shoes each, my grandson brought his gaming console and my son and daughter-in-law brought health food and supplements. I’m usually just the opposite when I travel. I anguish over what to pack, throw a few things in a single suitcase and expect that I will have packed the wrong things.

I’m prepping today for my long-anticipated trip to my hometown. I’m deliberating about what to pack, but not because I am worried that I won’t have the right shoes. I won’t. That’s a given. My primary concern is whether or not I will make the best use of the 48 hours there to pack in everything I want to do. My secondary concern is whether I’ve considered what I’ll need to make the time memorable.

In 48 hours I hope to: visit the local historical museum, walk the downtown area taking pictures of the wall murals that depict the town’s history, visit the local Carnegie library that was my home away from home growing up, take pictures of personal landmarks including the homes I lived in, attend my uncle’s 90th birthday party, eat in three favorite restaurants, try a new one, browse a Filipino grocery that is new to town, buy a frozen pasta sauce only distributed locally and traipse through the local cemetery locating the graves of six generations and taking pictures of the gravestones. There are a few wild cards—rain is predicted on Friday, which may make walking around harder and the cemetery trip sloppy. I’m taking a raincoat and boots. I’m not sure what condition the graves will be in since many haven’t been tended in decades. I’m taking gardening tools, water and a scrub brush. I need a cooler for bringing the pasta sauce home. I still haven’t heard if the current owner of our family home will be around this weekend so I can see inside the house. We’re staying in a VRBO so we’re taking our pillows.

I was talking to my son last night and admitted that I have an itinerary to manage my time there. He laughed and asked, “what makes this visit different from ones in the past?” I thought for a while and then I answered. “For one, your dad will be with me and I’m excited to have him see things he hasn’t seen in a long time. Past solo trips were quick and focused on an event like a funeral or a reunion. My schedule was full of things I needed to do with no time for what I might want to see. I also think that writing the memoir of my childhood this summer has a lot of memories stirred up that need to be connected to their physical places.” That made sense to both of us, and then I added with a lump in my throat, “And, I don’t know how many more chances I have left to go home.”

I’m packing the car, packing the 48 hours and packing my soul with nostalgia.