Time for visits moved in chunks,
Its clock the calendar, a three-state distance
In several hours driving, the kids asleep.
Over some rivers and around some woods
To parents/grandparents’ house we’d go.
There was always the catching up to do,
Amidst the groans about
“How much you’ve grown,”
And then the silent wish to sidetrack vision
From the aging of the faces.
The journey now spans right across
A five-state, day-long drive, the kids asleep
For sure, myself the parent/grandparent,
Still settled in her childhood home.
I keep a bold face out for them
And the months between the visits.
