Sun, Sun, Sun--Here It Comes!

The sun was in my face today--right in my face. And that's a good thing.

My "morning spot" each day at Open Door Coffee Co. here in Hudson is on a stool at a little table. From where I perch I look northeastward up Aurora-Hudson Road, a road I love for several reasons. We had a house on this road--120--from 1980-1990, the house where we were living while our son was growing up (second grade through high school graduation).

And if you keep going on that road (no surprise, given the name!), you end up in Aurora, where I taught at the middle school for about thirty years. From 1990-1997 we lived in Aurora in a wonderful house across from the library--60 E. Pioneer Trail. I loved my years teaching there.

But then we moved back to our current place, close to the center of Hudson, allowing us to walk to many of the places we need (or like) to go. Like Open Door Coffee Co.

Another reason I like my view in the morning: Just a couple of blocks up Aurora-Hudson is Western Reserve Academy, where Joyce taught from 1979-1990, where our son graduated, where I taught (1979-81, 2001-2011), where we made some of the best friends we ever had and taught some wonderful young men and women (just as I had in Aurora, just as Joyce would at Hiram College, 1990-present).

We also lived for a year (1979-80) at 306 North Main in Hudson, a street that runs north-south and bisects Aurora-Hudson Road.

Also--right next door to Open Door is the site of the former Saywell's Drug Store, where I went virtually every day for coffee from 1979 to its closing about ten years ago. Open Door retains some of the features of the beloved Saywell's--including the marble counter top on the bar where the old soda fountain was, some of the other furniture and items on the wall.

So ... lots of history ... Saywell's had operated for 90-some years.

But about the sun in my face?

Twice a year the earth's rotation positions me so that the rising sun hits me right in the face. It's happening now, and the reason I'm happy about it (even though I must shade my face for about a half-hour)? It means that spring is edging toward me ... us. And with the arrival of spring, of course, come those cliches about rebirth and renewal and hope and light and ...

... and every single word is true.