“What I’ve learned about these roads,” Kristie advised me, “is that if you think you’re going the wrong direction, keep driving for at least 15 minutes.”
When I was still driving toward my sister’s house, she called me. I had just left Charleston and was careening around on the curving interstate.
“I’ve never come that way but at least you don’t have to cross the mountain,” she said.
“Well, I must be crossing something,” I said, trying to navigate the curves.
“Is the road straight?” She asked.
“I haven’t been on a straight road since I left Ohio,” I told her.
“Well, no, but those don’t count,” she said.
It seems that, because the Virginians are so used to hills and curves, they even make some unnecessary ones. I mean, I understand the need for an overpass for a road to cross the interstate. But does the the overpass have to have the gradient of a horse shoe?
So I harbored a little anxiety when I heard that my friend Rosetta truly lived “across the mountain”. When I told Kristie I wasn’t sure about this, she laughed.
“There are usually guard rails,” she said with just a little too much emphasis on usually.
When I visited my friend Cynthia, who also lives in a house with a terrific view, she studied the map with me as I puzzler how to get to Rosetta’s house. Maybe I should come down south again, I said. It looks like there’s a break in the mountain.
“There is,” she said. “The interstate goes through it.”
When I texted Rosetta and expressed my fears, she laughed via text. It’s not as bad as Lebanon, she said.
So I went up the mountain.
I set off in my little blue car. I passed a landmark from the Civil War, driving down “Stonewall Jackson Memorial Highway.”
I gripped the steering wheel as the road began to slant upright. Heavy trucks roared around me, but I didn’t care. I hoped they would see my Indiana license plate and have a little compassion.
“Do not drive on the shoulder,” the signs said.
What shoulder?
And what do you do if you have an accident or start vomiting?
I thought about the Civil War and the exhausted soldiers dragging machines up the mountain. Couldn’t they have relocated the war to Indiana, settled the dispute there and then re-drawn the lines?
There was a brief moment at the top of the mountain where things were normal and then I went from pressing my foot against the accelerator to mashing the brake. Finally I rolled up to Rosetta’s road, ominously called “Deer Path”. She had agreed to come meet me at the bottom, but I felt that it was a test of my value as a human being, so I resolutely turned up the…deer path.
As the curves of the deer path grew tighter and steeper, the rocks more pronounced, I truly began to wonder if my car could do it (notice I have no photos of this.) But finally I pulled into Rosetta’s drive.
“Is this really a road maintained by the county?” I asked after saying hello.
“It’s really a road,” she said.
But what a view!
And what a treat– homemade baklava!
And what a reunion!
And I wonder, perhaps the terrain of life is more like Virginia than Indiana. Maybe some people’s lives are like Elkhart County’s roads, but I think not most.
Maybe life is meant to have ridges and mountains that can only be climbed by determination and resolution. Maybe the times when it seems like life is going the wrong way, fifteen more minutes of driving will prove the road. Maybe the view is reserved for the courageous, and some battles must be fought uphill, and sometimes we need to stand like a stone wall, and not relinquish one inch.
And sometimes there is unexpected beauty along the way! My favorite animal, a black Angus calf, and a donkey for good measure.
20 thoughts on “The Terrain of Life”
I had to laugh out loud at your comment about what to do if you start vomiting! 🙂 I’m glad you could come visit “Miss Kristie”, visit school, and experience our curvy roads. We’ve never met, but I’m Sharon’s (the one that grew up in VA) sister-in-law.
Thank you. I had a great time in Virginia. I know I didn’t have enough time to meet everyone!
Your perspective is so real and refreshing and hilarious too! So glad the ravines didn’t manage to draw you into their clutches. 🙂
It was probably that baklava that gave me the energy to make it back! I forgot my tendency to eat too much. :/
It’s interesting to read your perspective about our life in VA! And Port Republic of all places too…it’s almost all some of us know. I agree that life is more full of hills and curves than straight roads. Thanks for the taste of baklava! A treat, but no, it didn’t taste healthy. 🙂 Happy travels!
Thanks Dawn, and thanks for the great hospitality.
I’m thinking you could probably write a short inspirational book/devotional from each day of your trip. Seriously, though, your knack for finding a life lesson in your daily life… I love it!!!
Thanks Angie! I’m glad if my thoughts inspire.
I’m from Ohio, where the directions are explained often by certain curves or bends:). Enjoying following your road trip… And neat to see where Rosetta (my second cousin) lives now… N I’d really like to have a recipe for the baklava…
Here is what Rosetta sent me!
http://www.deliciousmeetshealthy.com/baklava-recipe/
Here’s the baklava recipe I used. And no, its not healthy but… YUM! I used raw sugar vs. regular an thought it tasted a little molasses-ey because of it.
Lol! The scariest ride of my life was coming off one of these mountains in the extra cab of a truck driven by a guy from Indiana! The guardrails wouldn’t have stood a chance!!! When my miniature heart surgeon walked in the door Monday afternoon I smiled, knowing that you had reached good ol’ Virginia! Enjoy your journey!
Thanks Ruthie! I really enjoyed Elijah and the other students… And the mountains were a good experience!
You are a scream. I’m sure the exhausted soldiers would have loved your idea of dragging their war machines another 700 miles to sensible IN. If you decide the shoes of a surgeon don’t fit you, maybe you could fit on those of a war strategist. Or maybe stick to writing…
Hmmm… You have a point!
Amazing Journey! I’ve traveled that Deer Path Road as well. 🙂 Thanks for lovely pictures!
The view at the top is worth it! So was the company!
Oh I loved this! Having grown up with the curves and mountains, I laughed through reading your and Kristie’s perspectives of them. And as always, I was blessed by your thoughts about life. Thanks. You have a gift.
Thanks Sharon. You’re right, everyone here seems to think it’s normal 🙂
I don’t know you…but this post is superb. Thank you.
Thanks for saying something Jody… I’m glad it spoke to you.