Thanks, Mom: Letting the Top Down
Driving through Delaware one decision at a time
By Esther Jones | Royal Report
I thought she was joking.
“We’ll just play it by ear,” she said.
I have never heard those words from the lips of my mother. She always has a plan finalized months ahead of time, like that August day my brother and I received guidebooks for our trip to Disney World the following summer. We had flown to Maryland to spend spring break with her brother and his wife, but I worried for her sanity when she suggested we spend the following day driving aimlessly around Delaware.
“But where are we going? Where will we stop?”
I pleaded with her to let me in on the scheming of her mind. Naturally free spirited, I’ve started to look forward to the predictability that comes with her micromanaging skills.
“We’ll just play it by ear,” she said again, the introverted, organized mother of my childhood.
We borrowed my aunt’s Toyota Camry Solara, put the top down and took the backroads. We passed a military air base, resisting the urge to duck as a jet landed a thousand feet away. We passed silos and marshes, cows and birdsong. We pulled into a horseshoe crab sanctuary called Kitt’s Hummock and spent hours walking up and down the beach, smelling the salt water and picking up sea glass. We finished our journey with some crab cakes and lobster bisque at a local seafood dive.
My mother took a break that day from how she usually defines herself. She took a break to show me how step back from responsibilities for a while and let the wind blow through my hair. And in Delaware, of all places.
