Springtime 2003- I felt the warmth of the sun on my face. The window was down on my truck, and the breeze was gentle as it blew through my hair. I was on the way to my grandmother’s home to pick her up as she wished to take a trip out into the country. We both lived in Dayton and have lived here for most of our lives. I was her oldest grandchild, and we liked to do things together. We even got our driver’s licenses at the same time, so she was more of a pal than a grandmother.
She and Grandpa had a farm in Adams County when I was a child, and we would spend almost every weekend there. That was 35 years ago. He taught me to fish, gave me rides on his tractor, and chocolate ice cream cones in his ’46 Ford truck with the windshield that rolled open. The breeze that blew in the front window would hasten the drip of melting ice cream so that it dripped down my shirt before I could finish the cone. He never wanted anything in return but a hug and a kiss –“some sugar” as he called it– at the end of our excursion. Cancer took Grandpa from me when I was 11 years old. My tiny heart was broken, and the farm was sold.
I loved those weekends in the country as a child, so I was excited that Grandma asked me to drive her and spend an afternoon away from the noise of the city. How long had it been since I was away from here? I had been living and working in or near the city my entire adult life. I worked at a job that I did not like, (Actually, I hated it) with people that were unkind, rude, and a cube mate that bullied me incessantly. To top it off, my job was in the basement of a tall building in downtown Dayton. There were no windows and for months it was dark when I would go to work, and dark when I would come home. It was on one of those dark drives to work that I narrowly escaped a carjacking. I remember how calm I was during the ordeal, and how I cried when it was all over. By the grace of God and by my being armed, I was able to get away. So, I was always tense, and I was always on defense. Taking a drive in the country sounded like a much-needed break…