CHRISTMAS DAY, 2001
We rush Christmas present opening
and a breakfast of cinnamon rolls.
I gather my Game Boy Advance,
Mario Kart, batteries and a blanket
(you drive without your coat on,
and while I want to be just like you,
I get cold far more easily).
Mom goes off to work, her nurse’s schedule
rarely allowing her holidays off.
Interstate 79 is ours, dad.
No one else in the greater Erie area
dares leave their families
at 7 a.m., Christmas morning.
We have the road, white cheddar popcorn,
and a soundtrack of laughter,
classic rock (mom wouldn’t approve)
and Yoshi yelping as he redshells Bowser.
In four hours, we will be with your side,
with my once-a-year grandma, aunt and cousin.
In those four hours, I watch you transform
into who you truly are, and who thirteen-year-old me
aspires to be – vast music and car knowledge,
sarcastic and loud and easy-going.
We laugh as we pass the silly landmarks
I gave names to last year on this same trip;
peek-a- boo bridge that hides behind mountains
remains my favorite, 14 years later.
The hills of West Virginia roll closer,
along with them,
the Polish feast
and cookies from the Old World
that I love as much as this side of the family.
In the middle of the year, when the cookies
are gone, we will have Dire Strait’s “Walk of Life”
to keep our Christmas traditions close.
Author: Meredith Wilcox
Email: [email protected]
Author Bio: Meredith Wilcox is a photographer and writer from Erie, PA. She is very into all of the things you would expect an artsy millennial to love, and she loves sharing her work and the way she experiences the world!
Link to social media or website: http://meredithwilcox.com
