The Road is My Home

A few days ago I was following a UPS truck and they pulled over in front of Vernon Elementary school hitting the branches of a cherry tree in full bloom, causing the petals of the blossoms to fly through the air and to the ground, like confetti. It was the most beautiful thing I saw that day.

Today I've noticed the lilacs are blooming and was able to stop and smell some of them. Lilacs are my favorite flowers. We had trees of white, light purple, and dark purple in our backyard at Lafayette. We also had an apple tree, a pear tree, walnut trees, and grapes. There was a wood stove in the living room and a bowl of walnuts in their shells, shell cracker right by the bowl, was always placed next to it. In the backyard there was also a hole in the ground that was covered by a lid that would come open if you stepped on the handle. The lid was heavy and rusted. That hole scared me. It was where my dad put the dog poop he'd clean up before mowing the lawn. When I was seven our brittany spaniel had puppies and half of the litter died from Parvo. It was really sad, and after that I imagined that the hole had dead puppies in it and that we were always throwing poop on them.

When I was younger it seemed like grown-ups were always getting these odd obsessions or interests. I guess I did it when I was younger as well--when I was ten and eleven I really liked suns and then I really liked cows. Even though I stopped caring people were still buying me birthday cards with cows on them or t-shirts with a holstein print. My mom got into buying these tiny British cottages that she kept in a mirrored, lit, corner case in our dining room. My dad went through phases of being really interested in old coins. He had about 30 vintage fishing lures framed. My uncle would always come visit toting a catalogue with the latest gun or knife that he wanted to buy. He'd show me the picture, as if it meant anything to me, and tell me all the specs. He still does this really. Their interests always seemed odd to me, but I supposed my obsession with holsteins was pretty ridiculous. I feel like now I'm getting my first adult obsession--vintage travel trailers. I really want one. I spent over and hour researching them today. I don't even have a driveway to keep it in. I'm not sure what the draw is. I definitely have romantic notions of cross country road trips pulling something like that 1965 Terry trailer I have pictured, of living simply and owning little. I know my Terry trailer would sit untouched most of the time, and I would probably be too lazy to do whatever small amount of upkeep it required. Maybe when I grow up a little bit more--when I have a driveway. When I have more things to call my own I can buy something that lets me pretend that all I need is its 13 feet of living space. My life in a tin canned.