Back to the Future....

It's Wednesday morning, May 2, and we're in Ames, Iowa.  We will leave (after I finish writing) for Peoria, Illinois.  I've never been to Peoria, nor has Carol.  It's a little more than halfway from here to Indianapolis -- we are on the final stretch of our journey.  Carol was born in Ames almost 60 years ago.  At that time our parents were newly married; our Dad was a young sargeant, teaching ROTC at Iowa State University.  Carol was born at Mary Greely Hospital and we are going to drive by there and throw memorial kisses at the facility on our way out of town.

Our drive yesterday was surprisingly beautiful.  The Iowa farmland was not as expansive nor as flat as I had expected.  We went through miles and miles of rolling hills, some green, some brown with freshly tilled soil that had either been newly planted or was ready for seed.  The weather was sunny and warm, the roads between little towns had little traffic.  Carol foraged for food last nite as I rested and found a marvelous Chinese restaurant next to the University -- she brought home some delicious veggies and tofu for me and I set upon it like a hungry wolf.  It was delicious.  Who knew you could find yummy tofu and veggies in Ames, Iowa?  I'm grateful.


Yesterday morning, on our way out of Sioux Falls, we stopped at Augustana College, a place that all Swanson girls went to school.  Our uncle went into the Army, so he did not attend.  My Mother and my Aunt Margaret (the oldest) served as Dean of Women at different times.  The campus is beautiful -- it reminds me some of my own Alma Mater, Willamette University, in Salem, Oregon.  Old stone and newer brick buildings.  Tall trees, a quiet, contemplative atmosphere.  There was a residence hall on the corner with "Women's Hall, 1909" written above it in stone -- we suspect that our aunts and mother lived there at some point.  Again, the air was rife with history, and as Carol and I sat in the garden next to the Women's Hall and scattered some more of Aunt Ruthie's ashes, I imagined the spirits of our dearly departed all around us.  Whenever I see birds, I think of my Mother, and our pilgrimmage here has been filled with birds leading the way as they swooped by the car on the freeway, by birdsong in the morning, by hawk sightings as they circled above the fields, looking with their sharp eyes for mice and other critters.


I feel we have paid our respects and done our duty to and for our relatives.  We looked through the pages of time past, with one more nod at roots today by visiting Carol's birthplace.  Once we leave Ames, it's on to the future, the unknown.  Peoria will be new to us, as will Indianapolis.  It's up to us now to be in the present and to create our journey from scratch.  I look forward to the future.  I look forward with the strength of my ancestors cheering me on.  I look forward.