Road trip leads to special moments with family

Community editor relishes in return trip to family home on the Oregon Coast.

By 

By TAMMY MALGESINI

Inside my shoes

Published on March 1, 2016 3:30PM

After returning from a road trip to visit my folks — I was reminded that there are things about being someone’s kid that really rock.

Despite the fact that I’m a college graduate, have a full-time job, pay a home mortgage and have been married for 32 years, whenever I go to Coos Bay I’m “Kidlet No. 2.”

My mom always tells me, “It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’ll always be my little girl.”

Since Coos Bay is about a 15-hour round-trip drive from Hermiston, it’s not a weekend destination. Needing to take some time off from work, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to cruise across the state to see my folks.

While talking on the phone confirming plans for the trip, I asked my mom if she’d make roast. Over the years I’ve ruined many good cuts of meat trying to replicate my favorite family Sunday dinner. One time I even got cooking tips from an octogenarian while at the funeral of a former boss’s mom. Even though I wouldn’t be there on a Sunday, my mom was more than happy to prepare a roast for her “Tammy Sue.”

I packed the Jeep and headed out last Tuesday afternoon with the General, my 3-year-old German shepherd. He makes a great traveling partner, but since he doesn’t share in the driving duties I made a pit stop in Woodburn. In addition to being about halfway to Coos Bay, it provided an opportunity to get some shoes for my husband at the outlet mall and have lunch with some old friends.

I arrived in Coos Bay the next evening just in time for dinner. And, as luck would have it, my mom had prepared meatloaf — another one of my favorites. As we ate dinner, my pops asked me what I wanted to do while I was in town. I didn’t have much of an agenda, I wanted to go to the student store at Marshfield High School — my alma mater — to get a baseball hat and do some junkin’ in second hand stores.

My mom was giddy with excitement to have me home. Sitting in the living room, we took a jaunt down memory lane — sharing stories from days gone by. I couldn’t believe my mom was still up. Oftentimes when I call, she’s already in bed by 8 p.m.

When my eyes started to droop, I finally retired to “the pink bedroom.” When I lived in that room, it had obnoxious smiley face wallpaper. If you think that sounds dreadful, imagine how I felt as a 17-year-old waking up with a hangover with yellow, orange and pink smiley faces everywhere.

The next day, my brother joined us all for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Partway through the meal my mom’s face was beaming. “I have both my kidlets here,” she said. It had been almost four years since our whole family was all together.

That moment made the whole trip worth it — that and the roast beef dinner my mom and brother prepared.

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Tammy Malgesini is the community editor. Her column, Inside my Shoes, includes general musings about life. Contact her at tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4539.