The golden road outside my friend Paula's house near Placerville, California...where I was early Sunday evening...

There’s a golden touch to the leaves outside my kitchen window, and on Sunday when I visited my Dad and my long-time friend Paula whom I knew from high school up in Placerville, I could see the gold all around – it’s fall, I thought – my favorite time of year, a time of beginnings and sometimes ending.  We had a good visit with my Dad -- and now I'm more grateful than ever that my Dad is still around, that he still remembers the past before I was born...and still comes up with new stories about our lives that I hadn't heard before.  Visiting Paula, who lives up the street from my Dad, is yet another blast from the past.  We've been friends since we were 15 years old.  and whenever we get together, even if we haven't seen each other for months, it's like all the years melt away and we're young girls again playing duets on guitars -- which we actually did for a little while.  Then, in honor of Mary from Peter, Paul and Mary, we sang, "Leavin' on a Jet Plane."

After we played guitars, we sat out on Paula and Mike's back patio, hanging out, watching the beautiful fountain...listening to a radio station Paula said she loved called 93.1 classic rock hits of the 70's.
 
I stayed for quite a while, and as I drove down the road from Paula and Mike's house, I just had to stop and look at all the golden shadows...realizing that fall had arrived -- before heading back to my Dad's place where Megan and Josh had helped Dad by cleaning his bathroom and kitchen.  We visited until around 9pm.  As we hugged and said good-bye, I realized that I had to get up to Placerville more often to see Dad.

So we got into the car, me, Megan and Josh, waving good-bye once more to my Dad as we took off down the road, 93.1 classic rock music blasting on the radio all the way through Sacramento and deep into the bay area before the station finally began to give out...all of us singing along to the music so varied, all from the 70's, from Hotel California to Al Green's Let's Stay Together to Steve Miller Band's Rockin' Me Baby and all music in between.

Who would have known, though, what would happen next... 
It was lunchtime yesterday when Melissa called – my older daughter, the stable strong daughter who always consoles everyone in times of crisis.

“Mom, I need you…”  Her voice was cracking as if she’d been crying.  I hadn’t heard her sound like that since – I don’t know when, probably since she was a teenager.

“What’s up, where are you?” I asked, already concerned, thinking vaguely she was calling from her home in San Francisco.

“No, I’m here – in Mountain View on Calderon and El Camino, you know, close to the Jack in the Box and the mortuary.”  Melissa’s voice broke up.

“Okay…”

“I need you to come get me and take me to Tracy’s house – I need a ride!”

Melissa sounded 14 again, when she first started high school, the years just melting away…that was 12 years ago, 1997, but there was something wrong.

“Okay, what’s up?”

“It’s Tracy’s Dad.  He died and Tracy found him, and I just came from the memorial…and…I couldn’t ask for a ride from Tracy.”

“What?” I didn’t know Tracy’s dad well, but a sea of emotion washed over me with her words…Tracy found her dad?  What the heck?  Somehow I knew I needed to leave work and be there for my daughter, for Melissa, for Tracy.

I could hear Melissa softly crying.  “It’s okay.  I’ll be there in just a few moments, okay?”

“Okay,” Melissa said, sounding like a kid.  She and Tracy had been friends forever, since they were both 14, and I’d driven Tracy home so many times.  Now they were roommates in San Francisco, only Tracy hadn’t been home for a couple of days…

I got out of work for lunch as soon as I could and drove down El Camino Real – Melissa and her friend Denise both stood on the corner of El Camino and Calderon on the right side of the street – just like old times, I thought.  How many times had I picked up assorted kids from somewhere on El Camino Real at any given hour?  Melissa wore all black and so did her friend Denice – just like old times too when Melissa went through her gothic phase.  The girls jumped into the car and I turned the corner and headed for Tracy’s house, almost on auto-pilot because even though I hadn’t been there in years, I still remembered where the house was – one block past Bryant Street, on Grant Road, and then make a right and then a left on to a cul-de-sac. 

“I just can’t believe this,” Melissa blurted out.  “I wondered where Tracy was when she didn’t show up – then figured she was visiting her parents down here…her mom was gone on vacation and her dad was at the house all by himself – you should’ve seen him!   Mom, he wasn’t even old.”

“I’m so sorry,” and I really was – poor Tracy to find her dad like that.  I knew they were a close family.

Melissa took out a beautiful card with Tracy’s Dad’s photo on the front, and she began to read…

Leaves are fallin' all around, time I was on my way
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay
but now it's time for me to go, the autumn moon lights my way
for now I smell the rain, and with it, pain
and it's headed my way
Aw, sometimes I grow so tired
but I know I've got one thing I got to do

I recognized those words instantly – the lyrics to Led Zeppelin’s Ramble On.

Next thing we knew, Melissa and I both sang the words in unison as I drove down the road and then we both burst into tears…

“That was Tracy’s dad favorite song.”

By the time I pulled into the cul-de-sac where Tracy lived, we were already a mess…I parked and walked into Tracy’s family’s gorgeous house I’d pulled up and dropped Tracy off so many times at, but had never been inside.  I wanted to offer my condolences to Tracy.  I’d practically watched her grow up and I knew this was hard on her.  People milled in and out and smiled nervously, but they were all so nice and gracious.  And then I saw Tracy’s mom –

Me with Tracy and Melissa right before Melissa moved out with Tracy (August 2008) and her boyfriend to their house in Twin Peaks -- it's probably 2am here

 
buh-bye say Tracy and Melissa when I said, "Finally, you've got your place in San Francisco, yaaayyy!"