An American Scene: My Parents, Age 90, Laughing

I had told my mother a few weeks ago that we would try to come and visit soon. And with the weather being so gorgeous, it was another great day for traveling. So down the road we went!

We decided to go down the back way (route 26 to 305 to 655 to 322) and come back the front way (route 322 through the Seven Mountains). The back way goes by a couple of state parks, and conveniently enough, Couch's, where we grabbed a pair of American hoagies and stopped to eat them at Greenwood Furnace. The foliage colors in Belleville are still quite lovely, and well worth a trip for a look.

We found my parents doing well and spent the afternoon just sitting in the living room chatting with them. My mom is blind in her right eye now and they are trying to save what sight remains in her left eye. Hunting season starts here in a couple of weeks, and my dad is trying to decide whether he will be going up on the mountain after a deer one more time.

Before we left, I asked them to pose for me together on the couch, and they did. They had been holding hands, but my dad was gesturing when I snapped this shot, so his hands were in motion. I think my husband had just said something silly, and they were laughing. It made me glad to see their smiles.

T. Tiger came along, for he adores my parents, and especially my mom. As a tiger, even he understands that big doings are afoot at the national level. Something about voting, and Pennsylvania, and counting. T. Tiger is a big fan of America, and so he took his flag along for the day. He and his flag appear in one of the photos with my parents in the extras.

We have only visited my parents a few times this year and alas we skipped the family reunion in July. We live in the State College area, which has been a hot spot for Covid cases due to Penn State. We worry about taking a bad germ to our family members unaware. So to protect them, we have mostly stayed away, which has been really, really hard.

And when we've visited, instead of hugging, we've done the elbow-bump for our good-byes. But this time, I did give my parents each a tiny hug. The first in many months. I held my breath and went in low and fast: grab! release! The stealth hug! It felt so good! So here are a picture of my parents, laughing, before the mad hugger attacked them.  :-)

My soundtrack song has got to be a love song, so here is a favorite: Sugarland, with The One I Love.