I rented a Hyundai, tuned into Car Talk and drove to Lancaster yesterday. Stunning scenery lined the road, and I was filled with fahrvergnügen driving fast down a 4-lane American highway. Never mind that I forgot my wallet at Alamo; my friends were 90 miles away and I couldn't wait to meet their beautiful baby boys. I couldn't wait to talk about families and pregnancies and nutrition and breastfeeding and careers and all the aspirations we had 10 years ago in Sewanee.
It was awesome; Melinda made delicious food (blackened Salmon salad, roasted organic chickens). The boys were full of cuteness and curiosity. We wandered around Jones park, found trees and sap at James Buchanan's arboretum, saw turtles and rabbits and baby ducklings. Baby Martin could not possibly have been more adorable:
And Owen's passion for all-out adventure and exploration was both entertaining and refreshing. Thankfully, though, I didn't have to chase after him. My friends Tracy and Melinda are fantastic mothers, unashamedly breastfeeding their babies on the park bench and attentively engaging them in the wonders of the natural world.
I think we could have talked for days, but all-too-soon I was back on the road to State College. Intellectual conversation was replaced with lyrics like "just when it couldn't get hotter, I fell in love with the farmer's daughter." Awe, America, families, babies, deciduous forests, road trips, I love you.
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