No Direction Home: “The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.”

April 5, 2021

“The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.” – Khalil Gibran

I have been hesitant to travel during the pandemic but there have been a few instances that I felt that it was necessary and those have mostly involved going to see my 90- year-old mother Marta in Winston-Salem. She has had numerous health issues over the past fourteen months and I have taken every opportunity available to get up and see her.

So last week, I braved traveling through the pandemic and boarded a plane that took me to North Carolina via Atlanta so I could pay my mother a visit at the same time as both of my older sisters, Marika and Michele. It is rare that we all get together and we thought it would be a nice thing for Marta to see all of her children together. We couldn’t make it happen on Easter, so we made it a week prior and all gathered to spend some quality time with Marta.

Thankfully all of us have been vaccinated, with only myself only halfway through, so I felt pretty safe interacting with my family and we were able to really enjoy our time. It’s funny that it takes our mother’s poor health to bring the Blades siblings together where we can actually have some time to talk and hand out, but such is life.

An added bonus of traveling to Winston-Salem was getting to experience a small dose of springtime. The weather was wonderful for much of the time I was there, though there were a few storms that passed through. I was able to take long walks through the beautiful Old Salem community that is only a few blocks from my mother’s home. The trees were just beginning to bud and flowers like daffodils and tulips were blooming as spring was in the midst of arriving while we were there. We were even able to get Marta outside a little which was nice.

The day I flew home, I had a little extra time to myself to explore Greensboro which is where the airport I was flying out of was located and so I took a drive and walk around the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. The park commemorates the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, fought on March 15, 1781. This battle opened the campaign that led to American victory in the Revolutionary War. The loss by the British in this battle contributed to their surrender at Yorktown seven months later.

I also managed to enjoy the outdoor seating at two fun establishments located just next to each other. The first was Doggos Park and Pub, which is a dog park/ pub where you can bring your dog and they can play in the dog park while you enjoy a beverage or some food. It was so cool to see all these happy dogs playing in the nice spring weather. The second stop was at a brewpub next door called the Pig Pounder Brewery where I had a nice craft beer before heading to the airport.

While I was in North Carolina and Kathy was in Key West holding down the homefront, our friends Dakota and Andy and their daughter Sloane were taking a spring break vacation and staying at our house in Colorado Springs. It was so fun to get updates from Colorado about what they were up to and also awesome to have someone using and enjoying the house.

Traveling was someone hectic, but I still felt pretty safe. Delta seemed to do a good job of maintaining protocol for protection from Covid 19, which despite the increasing vaccinations it seems that many people are acting as if the pandemic is over when that is not the case at all. In fact, the numbers continue to rise and it is far from under control. Currently there are 30,713,598 confirmed cases in the United States with 555,035 deaths from the virus. Locally here in Monroe County there have been 6,531 cases with 3,068 in Key West and 49 deaths to date.