I am writing this post to test your memory. Do you remember your past relationship with pavement? Do you remember when pavement was more than just something that your drove on? I’m talking about the days when you were young and existed in the present. Pavement had a strong relationship with you then. New pavement was an exciting find that you would seek out for a smooth ride on your skateboard. Pavement was where the cool kids would play football even though a tackle would peel the skin from their needs. Pavement would signal the start of summer when the sun’s heat would bring out that unmistakable smell of tar and naphtha.
So what happened to our relationship with pavement? We know hide in offices and only touch pavement via the tires of our commuter cars. Pavement used to be literally part of our bodies as we skinned our knees and elbows on it. I personally had several scrapes that healed with little specks of blacktop in it. Asphalt was part of my physical being. I miss it and I think my body was better when it still was integrated with blacktop.
I can’t imagine a time I the future where my relationship with blacktop will return. I hope it does, and I can only wish that I will return to a time when I did not use Accuweather to determine the daily forecast. Instead I laid in bed watching Wimbleton on NBC, and waited for the smell of asphalt to waft in the window. If it did, I knew that it was a day that was too hot. Time to stay inside and play Megaman 2!
