My son’s daycare is on a busy road and sits at the bottom of a steeply-sloped gravel driveway. When I go to pick him up after work, I coast to the bottom of the hill, ease up to the wooden fence that lines the little parking area.
Getting in is easy. It’s the leaving that’s hard.
It’s hard to see from the top of the drive; there’s a mailbox and a road work sign that block my view. The road curves and slopes. It’s hard to time the glow of headlights, the rumble and rush of other cars. Sometimes I can make the turn towards home right away. Sometimes we wait and wait and wait until the road is clear.
Every day before we turn I say, here we go, buddy. Every day after we turn I say, we made it, buddy. And I am grateful every time.
Getting this issue out was a little like pulling out of that driveway. We didn’t anticipate how many things would block our view or fly by too fast. We didn’t realize how long we’d have to wait or how tricky it would be to get our timing right. But we made it, buddy.
We made it.
-Meghan Phillips
Third Point Press
Art by Michelle Johnsen, art editor
Michelle Johnsen is a nature and portrait photographer in Lancaster, PA, as well as an amateur herbalist and naturalist. Her work has been featured by It’s Modern Art, Susquehanna Style magazine, Permaculture Activist magazine, EcoWatch.com, EarthFirst! Journal, Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, and used as album art for Grandma Shake!, Anna & Elizabeth, and Liz Fulmer Music. Michelle’s photos have also been stolen by AP, weather.com, The Daily Mail, and Lancaster Newspapers. You can contact her at mjphoto717 [at] gmail.com.