In 24 hours, my Grandson starts the trip of a lifetime

Oct 23, 2014, 9:01 AM

He is 13 years old. His grandmother moved to Los Angeles from Chihuahua, Mexico, in the mid 1960's with two small daughters and made a good life for herself as a single mom. She remarried and had a son. So I inherited three grown adult children and four grand-children when I married Elva seven years ago. A fifth grand-daughter has been born since we were married.

Lucas is the oldest son of Elva's oldest daughter. In 26 hours, we depart LAX for ATL which will be his first plane ride, his first trip to the South, and our first trip together of any sort. Seven hours later, he will be crossing Hartwell Lake and know he is somewhere very special since the air smells different as soon as you cross the boundary into South Carolina. About 20 minutes later, he will see his great-grand-father for the first time in Anderson where we will spend the next two nights. He will hear lots of stories about family history, unusual characters, construction work, and B-24s.

The next day we drive to Clemson, South Carolina, in the middle of the day. He will be introduced to tailgating, friendly people wearing orange, electricity in the air that he has never felt before, leaves falling from trees and some of them will also be orange along with yellow and red ones, homecoming exhibits, downtown Clemson, Tillman Hall, Bowman Field, the band, the cheerleaders, and a very large crowd of people who for the most part all agree on the intended outcome of a pending football game. He will hear the National Anthem, hopefully a prayer if that is still allowed, and the 25 most exciting seconds in college football. He will be sitting in Section G, Row S.

A few hours later, we will be driving back to Anderson. We will be tired. And he will have memories that last forever.