Evoka ‘When The Day Comes’

This weekend, there’s a family function happening that I’m not really looking all that forward to attending. It’s my Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary and it just seems like yesterday they were celebrating their 50th. Time must really be flying for them, huh?

I want to see everyone in my family because I rarely get up to West Virginia to visit. The part that I don’t like about the trip will be the questions…

Eugene… What are you now? Almost 40? How come you’re not married? Oh yeah… You were engaged to be married, what happened there? You’re a bright guy and you seem fairly successful, you couldn’t close the deal? Don’t you have any prospects? No girlfriend, huh? Are you a confirmed bachelor? Are you gay?

That’s the part that I’m not all that cool about. Most of the people my age are married, have been married, and the evidence of children can be read on their faces. In some ways, it makes me feel like I’m a failure.

I was talking to Weather Dave about my upcoming trip and mentioned all the questions about marriage and stuff and he said that I should tell them that I’m single and happy. Coming from a married man, it sounds like sage advice to me.

Rachel Peterson (former WFMY News 2 Meteorologist now working for weatherbug.com) told me that I should take a date. But I don’t think that I can subject anyone to that again. It’s going to be a one-day kind of trip with about 3½ hours each way. I’ve done it many times and it’s quite taxing. It’s hard to throw down when you get out of a car after a ride like that knowing that in a few hours, you’re getting back into the car for the long ride home.

But it’s family and the Grandparents may not be around much longer. I’m not trying to sound morbid or anything, I’m just looking at it logically. I want to take my camera along and capture all of the family as one unit. I’ve got a cool panoramic setting that I’m dying to use and why not subject my family to being photographic guinea pigs?

I must admit, I like the driving part of it. The winding turns at 60 or more miles per hour. Passing “flatlanders” because they drive too slow and carefully for the terrain that they aren’t used to. It can be a lot of fun. If you’re a NASCAR fan, imagine driving Watkins Glen with the possibility of tractors being out on the track.

I also like the riding part of it too. The landscape can be beautiful and seemingly untouched in places. If you look off into the fields, you may spot a few deer or other types of wildlife. The Appalachian mountains of Virginia and West Virginia are coming to life this time of year and in the words of Paris Hilton… “It’s hot.”

If you’re interested in the part of West Virginia that I’m visiting check a map. You’ll find Sarton, West Virginia to be in the middle of nowhere. That is, if you can find it on the map. If you can’t find it, I’ll be in Monroe County and the closet town is Union, the County Seat. Just look in the south-southeast part of the state. Monroe County borders Virginia.