Zone

 In 1969 we were living in Washington D.C. on the Maryland side. If you don't know what I mean there are two states balancing on Washington D.C. Maryland and across the river Virginia. Some people say that the Virginia side is the best side and where the wealthy live I disagree.

Nan decided to come down for a visit to see the museums, throwing in a few historic sites. We did the White House because our cousin was stationed there as a marine guard. We did a few of the Smithsonian Institution museums because you can not see them all in two days. We were going to visit Mt. Vernon on her last day and there was the announcement that was the day they were going to have the funeral of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. We were already on Pennsylvania Avenue and I heard it on the radio. They probably had been announcing it for day but I never watched television. I went to work, I worked overtime, I came home and went to bed 6 days a week. My husbands job was across from American University and he had a part time job at Sears Tire Store, then to the bar after work.

When they started to put up the barricades I knew we were in trouble. I had lived there for 1 year but did not know my way around the White House area, right where we happen to be. I told Nan we need to get out of here before the nation descends upon us. The problem is I am a terrible driver, Nan is a back seat driver and the area surrounding Washington D.C. is made of traffic circles. When you enter a traffic circle you better know which of 5 exits you are taking and then point your car in that direction. If you don't you are caught up in a whirlwind of traffic all trying to manipulate the circle. We started home at 2pm and we should have gotten home at 2:30 pm. We pulled outside our apartment building at 5:30pm. We could not avoid the marching bands setting up to participate in the funeral. We could not avoid the delegations of dignitaries in their black limousines. We could not avoid the throngs of spectators gathering on the streets and sidewalks.

Nan was tired, hungry, angry, and had to piss before we were 5 miles from home. We pulled over to the side of the road she got out and found a 7-11 cup in the back seat of my car. She jumped out of the car and hid behind a tree, she was gone for a few minutes. She dumped her urine in the woods and threw the empty cup back into the rear of my car. I am known for an incredibly nasty messy car. This day was no exception. We did not argue when we walked into the apartment, she just went to bed, got up the next morning at 6am. She never drove with me again.

Nan had a thing about cars. If it has a steering wheel, a radio and a defroster that is fine. All she expects a car to do is START. She has no mechanical ability, plumbing ability, electrical ability she only had the ability to LOVE. One year my sisters and I decided that she needed a new car. We bought a new white car and put it in front of her house on Christmas morning with a big red bow on the roof. She was angry we spent the money, happy to have a car that started with the turn of the key, in shock that anyone would love her so much as to give her exactly what she needed for Christmas. She had been doing wonderful things for all of the children for 30 years and never expected us to give her back a token of our love.

Drive On!