GFW Writer Jeff Turner shares an excerpt from his self-published memoir, "Notes to My Kids: Little Stories About Grown Up Kids," which is a perfect fit for our Thanksgiving Memories series.
To Roger and Jane:
One of the favorite things we ever did was ride the Segways
in Austin the Thanksgiving I was working there. I wanted to do something other than just walk inside of the capitol’s dome
downtown or go have nachos at the Oasis on Lake Travis with you. So we rode the Segways, and it was a
fun time indeed.
Over the years, I had seen the Segway “vehicle” on TV, but I
had never seen or rode one. I
remember talking to the place in Austin that gave the Segway tours of downtown
and asking questions about them. I asked if they were easy to ride, how hard it
was to balance them, and if teenagers like you would enjoy the ride. Since the answers I got were good, I
made our reservations for the tour.
That Thanksgiving was a bit hectic. I came home to Fort Worth, and it was
my turn to have everyone over; so I was busy getting the smoker ready for the
turkey and the ham. We had
everyone over, and you two spent the night. We got up the day after Thanksgiving and drove to Austin and
left our stuff at the extended stay place. The next stop was downtown and the
Segways.
We parked on the street, and we walked into the shop and
gazed at the odd-looking devices, which looked like an old fashioned pogo stick
with two large wheels on the bottom.
We checked in and got trained on how to run them. Then we departed for our short
tour of downtown Austin that cool and cloudy day.
We started down the street in a line; there were around
eight of us in total and a guide.
We quickly got used to driving them and how they steered. It became a very easy and
natural thing to do, like riding a bike or driving a car. None of us wrecked or hit something,
which was good.
Over the next couple of hours, we road down by the Colorado
River and the streets of the southern part of downtown and went by the State
capitol building. We snaked up and
down the little hills and wound our way back to the starting point where we
reluctantly parked our two-wheeled steeds.
After our ride, we ate lunch at the Texas Chili Parlor,
which unfortunately was not so good, and toured the inside of the capitol. Of course, we went to a store by UT to
look at T-shirts and saw the football stadium, too. It was a fun day in more than one way, one grey and cold but
filled with the warmth generated by the fire of being together and having a
good time.
And so it was that day and weekend. On Sunday, I drove you to Austin’s
Bergstrom airport to fly back to Love Field, home, and your waiting schoolwork.
And on Monday, I went back to work there in Austin.
That was one of the most fun weekends I had with you two
after you were grown. Riding the Segways
was a segue in life because I started to realize more and more that
you both were no longer little kids.
In that way, driving the Segways that day was like driving down a new
road in the way I saw you two: a new highway of our lives that we were driving
down, still together, even today.
Thanks for sharing, Jeff! Keep checking back with us every day for more Thanksgiving Memories from GFW Writers!
2 comments:
Very touching post, Jeff. In addition, I learned where to rent a segway. Riding a segway is on my bucket list. ☺ Thanks for sharing.
Jeff, thanks for another touching post. Spending time with family is something that makes memories that last.
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