A week after having a whirlwind trip to Ohio, I’m still buzzing a little bit attempting to bring things back to some semblance of normal. I had a number of other encounters during the trip, and missed other opportunities to connect with some people I wanted to connect with.
When I started planning the trip about six months ago, I had some grand plans of heading further north than we did and meeting with a few friends and family.
A trip to Cleveland was under consideration. My sister’s youngest child lives somewhere on the east side, with his wife (a woman I had barely met) and two children I’ve yet to meet. There’s a cousin living south and west of the city, and a friend from Ohio University I would have loved to have spent time with, bending elbows and trading stories. Karen, my children’s “Jewish Godmother” would likely have come down from her home in Erie for a visit.
We could have spent a couple of days in the “Best Location in the Nation” quite easily. But it wasn’t to be.
Instead, including the two reunion events, we only spent 42 hours in Chillicothe with more than a few people and places we didn’t manage to go and see. For instance, I really wanted to check out the location of Chillicothe’s “Dickies Barbecue” in what used to be Pizza Hut out Western Avenue. “Dickies” is one of those places here in the DFW Metromess which pops up almost everywhere. Shoot, there’s a Dickies less than two miles from my own little corner of the Metromess. Who says that franchising doesn’t work? On the other hand, a visit to Dickies would be akin to taking a “Busman’s Holiday,” or like traveling to England and refusing to eat nowhere other than a KFC. Don’t laugh. I know of one person who did just that!
There were a few other friends from the internet who were missed on that visit. One I did not miss was Alex, a former co-worker and probably one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. He spent one of those 42 hours we had in Chillicothe regaling us with stories about his exploits. I had short visits with a pair of Nancies who happened in on our celebrations – both doing well and both connected with our class almost at the hips.
There was also a nice surprise when I went to the Baptist church to drop off books for the American Association of University Women book sale which was being organized on Saturday morning. My mom had worked the sale for quite a few years before her demise and one of my sisters had taken advantage of a scholarship from the AAUW. I found that the sale was imminent and I felt that I should at least make a token contribution to honor my mother and my sister. The nice surprise was that there were people working sorting the books who fondly remembered my mother – we spent the better part of an hour trading stories and catching up. The time spent was worth more than the books I donated.
Mom was well remembered when we went to services at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Sunday morning. Among the conversations I had was one with a well-regarded author who hailed from the small Ross County village of Knockemstiff. I had met him a couple of times before – it was good to see him again.
We wheeled out of town after services at St. Paul’s, pausing only long enough for a trip into Krogers to purchase several six-packs of my favorite carbonated beverage (Ale-8 – a regional soft drink sold mostly in Kentucky). Stopped for lunch in Columbus, where we met my sisters for a mini family reunion, and then it was back on the road again, headed back to my little corner of the DFW Metromess by way of Fayetteville Arkansas.
All in all, we had a very good trip. Wish we had more time for other people and other places. Give it a few months. I may be willing to do that trip again!
Be Seeing You!
bdharrellauthor 