I will always treasure saturdays. The most magic day of all. From the time I was a small boy in Wisconsin who spent them with black & white flickering images of Roy Rogers, Sky King, Bugs Bunny, and Quickdraw McGraw. From the days of roaming the deep woods,streams, and hollows of 1960s Monterey. From the days of escape from work spent in Johnson's cave, in bars, and endless saturday nights behind my drumset. But the saturdays that my heart returns to the most are the ones spent with my Kacy Girl.
As in all treasured routines, ritual must be observed. Ours had many steps, and variations, and we savored them all. Sometimes we would fix breakfast here first. Sometimes we would detour by the mini-burger for "the works." Eggs,saugage,toast,biscuits, and gravy...ooh. But always, saturday started here in my room watching "Tracks Ahead", having coffee, and ended up at some point at two places "New Century Books, and Goods" My special place. And Burgerking..our place. But this isn't about destinations. It's about the journey.
Most of the time we would walk by the hospital,through my old neighborhood, and like Bilbo's journy from Hobbiton to the long lake, there were milestones, and steps that came to be treasures in our hearts, and necessary joys. Sidewalks that had to be walked. Buildings that always brought the same conversations. Turns that had to be made. Dogs visited.Games played. There was the clinic with the brick trim that reminded us of the twin towers. The vacant lot where the wild flowers flourished. The tree in the yard where I lived when my Mom died. The beagle we befriended. The house I always had to say how much I wished was ours. And blink..blink..blink..
(There were two red lights hanging over a 4way stop that blinked alternatively. I pointed at one, and said "blink!" as we passed under. "Blink!" my then eight year old Kacy replied, pointing at the other in delight. After that day, this game was always part of saturday.
Other favorites come to mind. Some fleeting, others chiseled in stone. The pawn shop that added to our video collection. This That, And More, a huge second hand store full of junk, and treasure. The hobby-shop, full of models, and trains.The Soup Kitchen (10 fresh homemade soups made daily!!). Ralph's do-nut shop. There was the antique store where I found"Roundabout Train". A children's book my mother used to read to me when I was a pre-schooler. We both cried, and Kacy said-"your getting it ,don't look at the price. Your always getting stuff for me..get something for yourself!" With glassy eyes she took the book in one hand, and led me with the other to the counter, where the story of the book made the owner cry too.
And the one that we will both remember the most. The Depot. How many hours? How many memories? Vivid. Sharp. Bittersweet. The model trains inside. The train trip we took to Lebanon, and back. The bluegrass concert. People we met. And our old friend, the red caboose. If I live to be a thousand I will still rember siting in the cupola with you,Kacy girl. Joyfilled afternoons. The smell of fresh paint, and old wood. The black steam engine out the front windows. And wasps
