The Empty Walkway

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I found myself really missing my mom today. Thinking about family and seeing Rocky greet a neighbor who stopped by, I remembered how it was when she and my dad would come to visit at our house here on Green Moon Path. They would pull up in their dark blue Camry, and Rocky would already be going crazy. I'd let him out front on the lead, and his intense baying would make us laugh---it was like he simply could not express loudly enough his excitement and attachment to these two people. Mom and Dad would get out of the car, and Dad would hold my mom's arm as she slowly went up the stairs, one by one. Rocky would entangle her in his lead, trying to jump all over her, so it would take them forever to get up to the door. And the whole way up, there was this look of joy and happiness on their faces.

My mom just radiated love and warmth, and those moments watching them make their way to the door with Rocky baying and Mom smiling and laughing . . . they are some of the most precious moments in my life in the years since we've lived here. It hurts to know I won't see that again, at least not in this life. The first time that Dad took Rocky up to his house in Pennsylvania after Mom had died, Rocky went crazy as they approached the house, and he tore inside, running from room to room, looking for Mom. He was crazy about her. Every once in a while he still seems to catch a whiff of her at their house and remember for a moment. Her presence is still there in all our lives, and we remember, with love.
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