Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
downtown now is all modern buildings and bubbling fountains and whenever I'm there
now I have to keep looking up at the street signs to get my bearings-but it felt like home.
I suppose it always will. I hope so. I drove through the city, happy to be there, proud to be
part of it.
On Grand Avenue, near the governor's mansion, I realized I was driving along behind my
mother,whohadevidentlyborrowedmysister'scar.Irecognizedherbecausetherightturn
signal was blinking pointlessly as she proceeded up the street. My mother generally puts
the turn signal on soon after pulling out of the garage and then leaves it on for pretty much
the rest of the day. I used to point this out to her, but then I realized it is actually a good
thing because it alerts other motorists that they are approaching a driver who may not be
entirely on top of matters. I followed along behind her. At Thirty-First Street the blinking
turn signal jumped from the right side of the car to the left-I had forgotten that she likes
to move it around from time to time as we turned the corner for home, but then it stayed
cheerily blinking on the left for the last mile, down Thirty-First Street and up Elmwood
Drive.
I had to park a fair distance from the house and then, despite a boyish eagerness to see my
mother, I took a minute to log the final details of the trip in a notebook I had been carrying
with me. Italways made me feel oddlyimportant andprofessional, like ajumbo-jet pilot at
theendofatransatlanticflight.Itwas10:38A.M.,andIhaddriven6,842milessinceleav-
inghome34daysearlier.Icircledthisfigure,thengotout,grabbedmybagsfromthetrunk
andwalkedbrisklytothehouse.Mymotherwasalreadyinside.Icouldseeherthroughthe
back window, moving around in the kitchen, putting away groceries and humming. She is
always humming. I opened the back door, dropped my bags and called out those four most
all-American words: “Hi, Mom, I'm home!”
She looked real pleased to see me. “Hello, dear!” she said brightly and gave me a hug. “I
was just wondering when I'd be seeing you again. Can I get you a sandwich?”
“That would be great,” I said even though I wasn't really hungry.
It was good to be home.
