"Take Me Home, Country Roads"

When I was very young, I loved riding in my grandfather's ol' pickup truck.  It had a great seat--with 'real' coiled springs that always guaranteed a fun ride across the bumpy fields and country roads.  My brother and I would bounce along in sheer delight!

A layer of South Dakota prairie dust coated everything in this old farm truck with the big steering wheel.  With the windows rolled down, the scent of the farm drifted in...though I was always partial to freshly cut alfalfa.  And my grandfather had his ol' radio carefully tuned into the nearest AM station...KBFS.  Of course, old country tunes came through those speakers.

And it was on the freeway in 6 lanes of rush hour traffic, that this memory so vividly flooded over me.  I was listening to Sirius, and I had tuned into old country music (primarily to try to slow down my emotional pace to avoid the inevitable frustration), and the songs were as old as that old truck.

And instead of sitting on the California freeway, I was nestled between my grandparents in that ol' truck driving down the dirt roads of the family farm listening to my grandfather talk about the crops as his elbow rested on the open window.  He would point out the occasional jack rabbit all while I was patiently waiting for the next bump to catch a good bounce.