Betty Swisher’s Driveway

Photo by Alessandra Caretto on Unsplash

My dad called a few weeks ago to tell me, among other things, that one of my grandparent’s neighbors in Marshall, Missouri, had passed. Her name was Betty Swisher, and I have a very vivid memory of her driveway.

When I was a kid, I struggled to learn how to ride a bike. I refused to brake with the pedals, using my feet instead, which resulted in some fairly horrific accidents. In San Diego, going down a hill, I tried to…