Ooh, Look! A Waterfall! (Part 3)

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Now it’s time to get personal about Niagara Falls. When I was discussing the waterfalls in Tennessee someone asked if I’d ever been to Niagara Falls. I replied that I’d taken my dear mother of blessed memory there after she got out of therapy for emphysema (along with other places, like a bluegrass show, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Opry, and the Smokies), and she talked about how wonderful that vacation was until the day she died. Because of that, I didn’t know if I’d have “memory overload” by visiting Niagara Falls again. I took a chance. The short answer was....yes/no. Yes, I remember taking my mom there. When I saw the Maid of the Mist in the river below the Horseshoe Falls I thought about that great “both sides” tour we took, visiting the scenery on the American side in the morning and the Canadian side in the evening. She got tired easily, so she took a nap in the car while I explored a little more of Goat Island that she wasn’t able to navigate. But no, it wasn’t “crushing.” In fact, I’ve had very few days like that in the 11 years since she left us. The most memorable one was in Newark, Ohio, warming up for a golf tournament, when “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” played on the piped-in music. One of my mom’s favorite songs....and I sat down and cried. (Then I got up and wont he tournament.) That’s the “funny” thing about memories, isn’t it. Some places, some songs, some aromas can conjure up the most overpowering memories. And you never know when that’ll happen. As it is, I had a great time at Niagara Falls. According to the phone pedometer I walked nearly six miles in the park, visiting everything I hadn’t seen the first time around (such as Three Sisters Islands, the “other side” of the American Falls, the rapids, and the restaurant with the lovely view of the Horseshoe Falls). There’s a line in a Rodney Crowell song about the death of his father, where he said, “Now I don’t have to hang my head over things I wish I’d said.” The memories at Niagara Falls were great, because I was able to bless my mom with a trip there...instead of standing there, wishing I had done it.