As I've said before, sometimes memories of high school run together with other memories of home and it's hard to separate them. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though, especially for those of us who live away from Loudon. I have found over the years that no matter where I am or what I’m doing, sometimes something will happen that sweeps me right back home.
Over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays while we were visiting my oldest daughter and her family, we discovered that their next door neighbors were from Johnson City. They were younger than I am, but we had a couple of things in common, and could talk about Knoxville and the area in general.
Several years ago, when my youngest two kids were something like 6 and 8, we were driving through Kansas (I think), and out in the middle of nowhere, with no town for a hundred miles in any direction, we came upon a car with Loudon plates. As I drove past them on the interstate my youngest daughter scribbled out a sign that said, “My Daddy’s from Loudon” and held it up. I didn’t recognize them, and really didn't think I would, but they laughed and waved and so did we. It broke up the monotony of a long drive.
In 1982 I was stationed at Fort Ord on the central California coast. My boss for a time was a guy named Charlie who was from Louisiana. We used to sit and talk about things from the south that we missed – the food, the places, the things you could do. One Monday morning Charlie told me that over the weekend he and his wife had been out sightseeing and found themselves in Sacramento where they had just opened a Po Folks restaurant. He told me how good the food was and that I should go there sometime. When I went back to my desk there was a neatly wrapped gift sitting on it. I opened it up and inside was an RC cola and a Moon Pie that Charlie had bought back from Po Folks. It was a simple gesture on his part, but I was never so happy to see a Moon Pie in my life.
Country roads may take you home, but Moon Pies let you remember what home tastes like. :)
1 comment:
Moon Pie's hold alot of memories for us also. I have one in the cabinet that has been there for almost three years. It was the last one in the box. My son-in-law Jason, had to have one everyday for lunch. He never made it for lunch on that Friday. I know it isn't any good but I just can't throw it away. The moon pie I would have liked but not the R.C.
Post a Comment