R - Roses and Road Trips

Roses – Roses are synonymous with my dad, he had a passion for roses. The fence along our back yard was lined with various rose bushes because he was a tester for Jackson & Perkins. Our house always had fresh roses in a vase during the spring and summer. When my dad was first diagnosed with cancer it was a difficult time but we also knew we needed to stay up beat and hopeful. I lived out of state but I remember the call I got from my sister telling me the idea she had when he went in for his first surgery.

My dad came through the first surgery fine and was in his room relaxing when a florist delivered this long box with a big bow around it. He slid the bow off and removed the lid to expose the familiar green tissue paper. Slowly he pulled back the paper on one end to expose the ends of some rose stems. He then went to the other end of the box pulling the paper back and at that moment started laughing so hard that he choked and the nurse came running in from the hall. He proudly pulled from the box a dozen fresh cut rose STEMS. That’s right we sent him just the stems. All’s the nurse could say at that point was, “ I sure hope that means they love you.” For the rest of his stay those stems were proudly displayed in a vase of water next to his bed.

Road Trips – from Jr. High through High School, vacation time meant a road trip to some part of the country for Majorette and Drum Corp Competition. My mom and dad would load us four kids up into the station wagon and attach a rented popup camper to the back and off we would go. We traveled to Minneapolis, Atlanta, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Boston during those years. One year we flew to Seattle but that is not the same. On our trips we would head out early in the morning and only stop for gas usually. We packed bread, bologna and fruit and made sandwiches as we flew down the highway. I remember one trip however when we did make a stop, it was on our way to Atlanta and we stopped in Oakridge Tennessee to visit the American Museum of Atomic Energy. We spent the day touring this facility and learning all about Atomic Energy. I was totally fascinated but I will never know why my dad chose this spot out of all the other things around the country we could have stopped at.