sanctity of the lane...

for many reasons,

i have always treasured

my life on the lane...

especially in the spring

and summer.

when the flowers and trees

are in full bloom,

the lane looks much like

an original,

thomas kinkade

painting.

the lane is also a bit enchanted...

we have deer,

squirrels,

foxes,

raccoons,

opossums,

groundhogs,

moles,

turtles,

owls,

bats,

and

birds...

lots of birds. 

what i've always 

treasured most

though

are my next-door neighbors,

the davis'.

when i moved here 

as a little girl

with my parents,

jack and stella quickly became
my best friends

(even though i was only nine

and they were in their sixties.)

i remember in the summers

anxiously 
watching out the living room window

or them to arrive home from work.

i got so giddy 

when i saw their woody station wagon

 pull into their driveway.
like clockwork, 
the two got out of the car,

stella went in to start supper, 
and 
jack headed to his garage.

as soon as i saw jack 
sitting in his lawn chair.

i ran over to 

"play."

when he saw me coming,
he stood and 

grabbed an extra lawn chair for me.
"dani, sit down here with me!"
he would say.

we sat and watched 

sanford and son

almost every afternoon together.

although i was only a mere fourth-grader,

 jack talked to me like i was grown.

i liked that!
we talked about school,
politics, family, money,
bb guns, gardening, 
etc...

when stella saw that i was there,

she brought jack and me

Coca-Cola
or sweet tea

poured over ice

in ball jars.

she handed us our drinks 

and then dried her hands on her

apron.

stella was beautiful.

(stella.is.still.beautiful.)

she always had her hair

fixed.

and...

whether she was dressed 

for church

or

in shorts, a polo,

tennis shoes,

and apron,

she looked like

a model-modern-housewife-and-mother.

she never failed to ask me about my day.

i remember trying to come up

with a good tale

because i loved, loved, loved

to hear her reply,

"well, good grief!"

it reminded me of charlie brown

and always made me giggle.

she then usually returned to her kitchen

to continue preparing dinner.

jack and i sipped

our drinks

(well, jack took swigs of his 

after each spit of tobacco;)

all the while watching 

 fred sanford

grab his shoulder 

and tell his late wife,

elizabeth,

he was coming to join her.

jack could imitate fred
to a t, 
which also made me giggle.

after a while,

mom would holler 

for me to come home

for dinner,

and

stella called jack in as well.

~@~

many nights

after we ate supper

mom allowed me 
to rejoin them in their backyard..

i don't know if i was a bother to them,

but if i was,

they never made me feel like it.

there were no other children on the lane.

they were all i had.

they were 

all i needed.

i.loved.them.

~@~

when i was little

we never took summer vacations.

but,

that was okay

because jack and stella didn't either.

my jack

preached the sanctity of the lane...

he would scoot to the front of his lawn-chair

expand his arms as wide as he could

as if presenting something  really special

and rhetorically ask,

"why would we want to 

go anywhere else

when we have everything we need

right here?"

 i would look at him,
he had a sparkle in his eye.
grin,
and think to myself,

"why?" indeed!

love and God's blessings,

dani xxx