All New From Here

Last week when I visited my mom, she said, "I've never lived alone before," and I've thought about that a lot. She went right from living at home to being married--just like I did.

Yesterday was a lovely day and I felt like having an adventure. I drove down to get her and we had a girls' road trip to Southwestern New Hampshire. She's a great gardener, so I took her to Rhododendron State Park (which is equal parts cool and creepy to have enormous rhododendrons--tunnels of them--growing in a forest). And then we stopped at Cathedral of the Pines, which is an open-air sanctuary for all faiths and honoring service men and women. It was founded by a husband and wife who lost their son in World War II. The views of Mt. Monadnock were stunning.

On the drive up to NH, I told her that she was in charge of keeping track of the directions. She and my dad had explored a ways up the road I had chosen, but not as far as we were heading.

At one point she said, "Right here is as far as Dad and I went. Now it's all new from here."

Yes, it's all new from here.


Cathedral of the Pines, Ringe, New Hampshire