Moments

 There are times when I reminisce and certain memories recur.  Mostly, these are good memories, happy memories, but sometimes they're just meaningful to me without happiness involved.  These are times that I'll remember for as long as I live because of their impact on my life.

--  Mom driving me to the airport when I was leaving for Spain.  We sang O' Danny Boy together.  Neither of us knew how my year in Spain would go.  It could end in disaster.  I may decide to stay in Spain.  But on the way to O'Hare, we sang that song.  I'll never forget it.

--  In eighth grade, our basketball team was very close.  At the time, the Doobie Brothers' son Black Water was popular.  I can't remember lyrics very well, but I remember the chorus from that song because it was very simple.  Our singing the song in the locker room after practice is etched in my memory.

-- Speaking of the Doobie Brothers, when Karen and I saw them live they played my favorite song, South City Midnight Lady.  For whatever reason, I felt as if they dialed up that song just for me.

--  Karen's uncle Frank didn't have much longer to live.  We'd just gotten in town to see him and the ladies went out to get pizza.  That left me and Frank alone, so we sat in the outdoor rocking chairs that he had made (by far the best rocking chairs I've ever had the privilege to sit in) and chatted.  Normally, that wouldn't be much of a memory, but because he'd been so close with Karen's ex-husband and because I never had much of a relationship with him, our chat -- banal as it may have been -- was all the more meaningful because it was just two guys chatting.  I'll long remember that chat and how we had to scamper inside when a deluge hit.

--  In the last quarter of my time in Spain, I found myself in the backwater town of Arriondas, known for its canoe culture.  I had just gotten off the train and bought myself Manchego cheese, a Coke, a pistola de pan and some strawberries.  I went down by the river and ate my meal in the serenity of the place.  It was a glorious day all around.

--  Being in Grayling, Michigan, watching the Cubs punch their ticket to the World Series for the first time in my life.  

--  Being with Custer on the day he died.  No death since my Mother's has hit me so hard.  His loss still pains me.

-- Driving with Karen in a blizzard to deliver donuts.  Were we wacky or what?

-- Cooking turkey for Christmas in Madrid.  Rounding up the ingredients was a chore, but cooking the meal and sharing it with a Colombian, a Mexican and a Jew from Boston was memorable.

-- The puente trip to Pedraza was a most bohemian experience.  Eating salad out of a large communal bowl was a first.

--  Carrying on a conversation in Spanish with a bus driver from Soria next to the walls of the city of Avila.

--  Seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time with Karen.

-- Watching John Wick 3 in Friday Harbor, Washington, in sunglasses.

-- Meeting Karen for the first time outside the restaurant that no longer existed.  It changed my life forever.

(c) 2025 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles