Wednesday, October 11, 2017

WFW - Just in time

This months Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Cindi Summerlin over at Letting the Words Escape. Drop by and let Cindi know when you join in so everyone else can enjoy your take on the words.

The prompts for this week are:

Electricity, Grief, Laboratory, Slaughterhouse, Kiss, Amuse
and/or
Melancholy, Murder, Ravine, Laugh, Sensations, Violent

Just in time

Leaving for the airport before breakfast was the plan to avoid the grief of driving in the heavy traffic on the freeway,  you know that traffic which causes so many violent outbursts from whomever happens to be behind the wheel at the time, today my wife Cindy had chosen to drive.

Cindy loves to speed up while approaching the drainage ditches that crosses the road near our house. Our Grandson holds his hands in the air and yells "Whee!" as the car drops into the ravine and sails almost into the air as it flies out of the ditch just in time to drop into the next for another dose of the sinking sensations you get in your belly during a sudden drop.

Benjamin yells "Whee!" once again and we all laugh at the small tradition of sailing through the drainage ditches like a rollercoaster ride in our car. Cindy created this little experience for our children and now for our grandson, from one started by her mother when Cindy was a child.

Driving onto the onramp to the freeway, all you could see was miles and miles of brake lights, the amount of electricity generating all of these red lights could power a small nation I was thinking to myself, Cindy growled in frustration "Just look at that traffic!".

Navigating the traffic was murder, the traffic congestion added an extra hour to our normal forty five minute commute to the airport, but on the other hand gave us an extra hour to talk with our grandson and to visit with his parents, our son and daughter in law.

The tension coming from the cars around us was thick enough to have been mixed up in a laboratory. If the dialog all of the drivers were yelling at one another reached the ears of the person intended, the temptation to turn the freeway into a slaughterhouse would be a strong possibility, Thank God for thick glass that blocks most of the sound.

We arrived at the airport soon enough for the kids to catch their flight home. The time they were with us for this trip passed quickly, and they were gone with a kiss on the cheek, a hug, and a few words intended to amuse the tears from flowing down our faces.

Black and white photo of my wife Cindy walking away with our grandson Benjamin pulling his luggage behind.
Cindy and Benjamin at the airport.
We waved goodbye until they were out of sight, then drove back towards the freeway with a melancholy feeling in our chests that would remain longer than our drive back home.

32 comments:

  1. I don't think I want to ride with your wife, but I love the story. Very well done.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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    1. Hello Sandee, Cindy does really good driving...it does appear that I have a few driving stories on her though ha ha.

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  2. Another great word challenge, Jimmy. Your wife giving your grandson a "whee" moment in the car brought back a good memory of my dad doing the same thing every time we'd go back and forth between our cottage. As an adult I tried to reproduce the same thing at the same place in the road but I could never master the technique.

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    1. Hello Jean, Sometimes the things our parents do when we are younger just doesn't come out the same when we try them as adults. I wonder if the "Whee" is simply more exciting when you aren't the one driving? Or it could be that your Dad was just that good ;-)

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  3. I love that you were able to incorporate all those words into a recent event. SO hard to say goodbye!

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    1. Thank you Bijoux, It is really hard to watch them leave when they live so far away especially, sad how fast the time flies when they are here.

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  4. Great work! Oh, that empty feeling when they go home :-(

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    1. Hey Sharon, Thank you Mam, yes that is a good way to describe the feeling, empty, but when they return it is reversed to a happy feeling greater than the empty one :)

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  5. Your happy visit is over but you've accumulated some great memories. Great use of the words.

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    1. Hello Delores, I was thinking of how to use the words and they were destined for a really dark story, I like how they worked out in our drive to the airport. I appreciate you my friend.

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  6. Love your use of the prompts to reflect recent events. And my father gave us some wheeeee moments too. Often.

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    1. Hey EC, Aren't memories like this with your father the greatest.

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  7. Great story--& true!!

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  8. Aww...time goes by so fast during visits like this. We have a section of WHEE road, but it takes an hour and a half to get to it. It's on the way to Genius's college town. I think he probably WHEEs himself, but he won't admit to it.

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    1. Hello Val, Our Whee section is only about a mile away from here, so we hit the old double drainage ditches frequently... especially when the kids are here.

      I imagine that you are 100% right in that Genius Whees himself on his way to and from college, I wonder if Hick ever took the boys through there just for a thrill?

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  9. I love the talent it takes to write like this.

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    1. Thank you Inger, It's good to see you my friend.

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  10. Great use of the words, and good description of the whee moment in the car. My dad used to do that too :)

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    1. Hello Jenny, Thank you so much, I think the drivers get a thrill seeing the reaction on the little ones faces during these whee moments, I know we do and I am positive that your Dad did also ;-)

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  11. You wove the words into your true story very well Jimmy.

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    1. Thank you River, I am happy that you enjoyed it.

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  12. Oh Jimmy I remember that feeling well. Seeing those little ones leaving then driving home feeling awful. We lived interstate for a while when our grandchildren were little- enuff said.
    I posted today, bit too long for Cindi's comment section so can be


    found here
    ~ Cathy

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    1. Hello Cathy, I think we all relate to this feeling that comes when our little ones have to go home, it would be nice to have them around more often, but the house sure is quiet after they leave.

      I read your story earlier, nice job Cathy, yours came out really good.

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  13. O gosh I could sure relate to this story. We had to stop flying over our speed hill however. It slowed us when we went over only to see a large deer standing in the ravine. Yikes! I could also relate to the tears flowing as the grandchildren are sent home. Excellent story Jimmy, as usual.

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    1. Good morning Annie, Oh wow I can just imagine seeing a deer in the ravine, that would definitely be enough to slow you down.

      Thank you my friend I appreciate your kind words.

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  14. Thanks for the trip down memory lane with those weightless, floating tummy moments in a car which I loved as a kid myself.
    Sorry the visit is over but can tell you all had a great time.

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    1. Hi Patti, It was really a great visit and it went so fast, about as fast as the trip through the dips ha ha.

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  15. I almost forgot you had special words to incorporate in this tale, which I enjoyed. I've missed reading your posts.

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    1. Good morning Valerie, It is so great to have you stop by, I hope that you are feeling much better and will be back to normal soon, I have missed your visits and am so happy to see you this morning.

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  16. Great job! I think most of us grandparents can relate... especially to the melancholy feeling after the kiddies have gone.

    Our kids used to yell "Ye-HA!" when we drove over those big dips in the road. Like the Dukes of Hazzard. :)

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    1. Thank you Susan, I am surprised Ye-Ha! hasn't come out of any of ours ha ha it has always been Whee! they ever call the dips "The Whees"

      That feeling when they leave does stick with you a while, more so after you are a grandparent it seems.

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Thanks for stopping by, jump in and tell me what you think, or just say Hi, I really appreciate your comments.