Sunday, June 15, 2025
Time: 8:10 PM
Song: It’s All Right
Artist: The Impressions
Mode of Consumption:
Listening to MP3s on shuffle between Freeport and Sterling, IL.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/62PQXBFeAgS3iUseNRVPpF?si=f27be872190d44d3
We are riding back from our niece’s high school graduation party in Eagle, Wisconsin. It’s about a 2 ½ hour trip from Sterling to Eagle, when skipping around Rockford. We are carpooling with my parents.
“You know this was probably the last party,” Jodi says. “We are going to have to find a reason to go up to Matt’s now.”
She’s right. Our niece is the youngest of two children of my brother, Matt. We’ve been heading north for the better part of twenty years, usually twice a year for birthday parties.
His son, Logan, just graduated from college and is starting a career. The high school graduate, Haley, is heading to the UP for college in the fall.
It’s the end of an era.
I hadn’t thought of it that way until then.
In the coming years, there will probably be weddings and college graduations and other things, but the regular trips are over. Certainly, a new phase of life for my brother and his family. Also, a change for us.
I think about how my own relationships with extended family changed as we aged, got married, had children, moved around and away.
I think about how my grandmother used to ride with us up to parties, and that it’s been ten years since she passed away.
It’s heady. Maybe even sad. Bittersweet.
It’s also all right.
We’ve had a good time.
No comments:
Post a Comment