As long as I live, I will always consider Pennsylvania my home. I am a Westmoreland County girl who bleeds back and gold and as much as I love Coastal Carolina, during October, I miss home.
Fall makes me homesick. And this year, it is even worse. I felt like my mother was calling.
When we were kids, we were bundled up at the bus stop in the morning but ripping our jackets off, running home, to be outside and play before the sun went down.
I would sit in school and watch the leaves fall with a smile. My mom would pack soup in our thermoses and molasses cookies. Fall.
On Sundays, my mom would slide that pork roast into the oven, then we went to church, and had to be home before Steeler Kick-Off. Pork roast, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, our Sunday staple. Some days, we went and picked up leaves, perfect leaves, in assorted colors and then come home and press them in wax paper. I loved that smell. My mom would let the wax soak in and then trim them neatly and use as decorations. I loved those days.
I would crack my bedroom window open at night so my pillow would get super cold and it was the best sleep ever.
My brother and I rocked the Delmont Halloween Parade. My mom, with the help of my mamaw, would make our costumes. One year I was Santa and my brother an Elf. So cute.
Another year, Jolly Green Giant and Todd was Little Sprout.
My personal favorite was me as Pinocchio and Todd, Jiminy Cricket.
We won three consecutive years.
Nothing screamed success like a Five-dollar bill and a cup of warm apple cider as the winners of the parade.
On Halloween my dad would put about 12 kids in the back of the Ford Truck as we went all through Bel Aire Manor dragging our pillowcases.
I can still see my mom on the floor in the family room, digging through the candy. Ironically, her favorite candy, they were always the ones that were opened and "Not safe to eat."
My dad would grab Milk Duds when possible.
Truly, one of the greatest nights of the year.
Halloween also signals the end of October, Thanksgiving, hunting season and Christmas were right around the corner.
When my kids were little, we always had a "Fall Trip" to the north. Hayrides in Maryland, Pumpkin Farms and Corn Mazes, Hershey Park and even Gettysburg. We loved those trips.
Last weekend, I made the trip to my college alma mater, West Virginia University, to see my son and some of my dear friends from WVU for Homecoming.
As I drove from North Carolina thru West Virginia, I loved looking at the foliage. Gorgeous.
I couldn't help but be melancholy... This no doubt was going to be my last WVU football game for a long time. Walker will be graduating so I need to get to Knoxville more next year. The trips back to Pennsylvania, in the next couple years, could be counted on one hand.
Things were changing. My mom was gone, and my stepfather has moved on. Walker will be graduating and starting his journey. Only my lovely Aunt Judy and two cousins were left back in Pennsylvania. It was all different now. So very different. Years had turned into decades and while it seemed like yesterday, we were having a Halloween Party at Delmont Elementary School or I was partying like rockstar at WVU, my favorite month was breaking my heart.
Seriously, my mom was just on her hands and knees separating candy and then hiding it so we would only eat one piece per day and now she was a permanent fixture in the Twin Valley Memorial Cemetary.
I enjoyed the weekend immensely, time with my son, best friend and her family and the same old stories came up again with the same laughs. A great time was had by all.
On the way home on Sunday, my GPS took me on a road that was out of the world. The leaves, the wind, the mountains, it didn't any better until I rounded a corner and was greeted by immense Wind Turbines (my family is obsessed with them). The sun was trying to come out with a million colors in the background.
I needed to pee (what else is new) and I found this adorable little roadside stand. I went inside and was overwhelmed with the smell of freshly perked coffee. I made my coffee and saw Amanda come out of the kitchen with 12 warm apple fritters in wax paper. (I love wax paper).
I decided to live on the edge and order an apple fritter. Seriously, seriously, it was so delicious. I ate it in my car and would have loved to go back in and order several more. My mamaw would have loved these.
Instead of being melancholy, I became happy. Certainly, happy that I was seeing this amazing sight but also feeling very blessed about the future, my niece is expecting the first baby in the family and the shower is this weekend. We are so excited. The circle of life.
My accent will never become one of a Southern Belle and I will never swap out my black and gold for any other colors, but it did "hit me" that my Pennsylvania roots were becoming very distant memories. My cousin and I had just had a conversation about how there were just a few of us who really remembered "those good old days." I guess it is not the amount of people who remembered them, but the quality of the memories.
As I came down and around the mountains and into city traffic, reality set into my heart. My mom's passing has had a profound impact on me. I never wanted to be the matriarch in our tiny family, for obvious reasons. And yet, here I was. Maybe the reason the memories were so crisp is because they were so important. There was so much love in all those memories. It was my task to make sure it was all repeated.
I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the mountains, mighty and lovely. I looked in front of me and saw the flat road. My home was in front of me. My memories were behind me.
I still love falling leaves. No matter where I am.
