As I’ve already mentioned, I’ve been itching to go road tripping. But when I wrote the title of this entry, my mind went instantly to my maternal grandmother. Willy Nelson’s “On the Road Again” was one of her favorite songs, and we sang it for her on her 80th birthday. Her eyes lit up in recognition, though her words and mind have failed her for over a decade past.

There was always music in my mother’s house, in my grandmother’s house. Dad played uke and guitar, and Mom played piano. Uncle Sonny played saxophone in high school and now reigns as the Frank Sinatra karaoke king of Slidell, Louisiana.  Uncle Joey played guitar, and shared his love of music with his two boys. Uncle Jeff has followed in Joey’s footsteps, singing and playing guitar and writing his own songs, clinging harder to music as his sight fails him. 

My grandmother Nola loved Liberace, and she played on her organ with her Big Note Songbook in the late afternoons. But I wonder about her love for “On the Road Again.” I guess it’s just the music and the way it made her feel, more than the sentiment, for she rarely left the comfort of her home state. And perhaps now she can dream that she’s somewhere adventuring on the road instead of being trapped in her nursing home, taking only the brief journey from bed to day room and back again.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 1:15 pm and is filed under road tripping, sweetness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.