Leaving Pennsylvania by Heather Smith ©

Geoff Hansell and Heather Pierce at the wedding of Charlie and Ginny (Virginia Pierce) Keys

So, this blog is supposed to have a schedule - which I abandoned for a while to get some of Mama's stories typed up for my aunt. Today is supposed to be about my Pierce grandparents - and I think this is the most shocking thing Grandmama ever did to me. I really could not believe she just left me alone in the hospital.

I was a pretty sick kid the whole time we lived in PA, but especially the last two years - which were the same years I dated Geoff Hansell and attended Bucks County Community College. I was in and out of this hospital called St. Mary's. I remember being on the phone with Geoff one night when I was 19. Daddy and I were living in the condo at Tarrytown Estates together - just the two of us. My grandmother had married Charles Travis Keys, a bona fide rocket scientist, and moved away to Top of the World retirement community in Ocala, Florida. My sister had run off with a towny she met at Centenary College in NJ and they were living in Greely, Colorado where they presumably attended the University of Northern Colorado. My mother lived in NC and taught at UNC Charlotte.

Daddy decided that he was going to get me well by feeding me. He made a big batch of pierogies and baked some frozen stuffed clams. I ate it greedily and promptly threw up my toes. I went upstairs and called Geoff. "I haven't kept anything down for four days," I confessed. "I'm afraid to tell Daddy because he'll make me go to the hospital." Geoff replied, "Heather, if you haven't kept anything down for four days, maybe you should be in the hospital." I knew he was right.  So I went downstairs and leveled with Daddy about what was going on with me. He looked so sad, but snapped immediately into action and told me to get a bag packed because I might be in the hospital for a while.

As luck would have it, Grandmama was still in town for the last week of summer before Charlie's grandkids all had to go back to school. She and Charlie were going to be around for the next few weeks. I got admitted to St. Mary's and Daddy had to leave for Wisconsin where he was doing some sort of training mission with the Army Reserves.

I shared a room with some lady. While I was trying to go to sleep I could hear a noise like someone shaking a jar filled with marbles. Grumpily, I yelled, "Quit playing with your marbles, lady!" The next day, she asked for a room transfer. Apparently, I had offended her while she was praying on her rosary. I didn't even know what a rosary was at that point in my life.  But at least I had the room to myself for the duration of my stay. Grandmama came in my room and gave me a twenty. She said that she and Charlie had to go back to Florida, there was a ball with the lodge that they had already paid for and she didn't want to miss it. She gave me Charlie's daughter's number and money for a cab so I could get home since no member of my family was within 600 miles of the hospital. I couldn't believe she was leaving. But then, yes, I could.

I was released two days later and took a cab home. It was two days before my twentieth birthday. I got home to the empty condo and the next day Daddy came home. He decided we needed to do something special for my twentieth, especially, since I had plans to move back to NC the following week to go to UNCC. Daddy, Kim, and Geoff took me out to dinner in New Hope.  We had a lovely time looking at the shops and eating outside. I wore my leopard print mini skirt with matching halter and black heels. Somewhere, I have a picture of it. I knew this would be one of my last times with Geoff in New Hope. Maybe the last time. He would never move to NC, and I had made up my mind that April when I went to  Tyler State Park with John Rich, Kurt Myers, and some others from my youth group that I would go home to NC and never live in PA again as I watched them cross the frozen creek in April. In April!

I still had a problem. My birthday is on August 18. Classes started on August 26. I still didn't know how I was going to move to NC. Daddy couldn't take me, he had several speaking engagements scheduled. Mama was getting ready for classes. Geoff mentioned to me that Al, Geoff's best friend, and his fiance had called things off that night when we were in New Hope. Al owned a van.

The next day, I called Al and asked him if he would drive me to NC. He had the time off - it would have been the week of his honeymoon. He agreed to take me, but first, my dad wanted to meet him. Al was - well he still is - half Japanese and half American. He agreed to come to meet Daddy, he said before I left he would take me out to a real Japanese Restaurant. Daddy just loved him, he has such good manners and deferred to Daddy in a way Geoff never did. He had Geoff meet us at his house after our sumptuous meal. Geoff and I said our goodbyes and he sped away upset in his huge yellow Caprice Classic; we had some good times in that car.  I was upset but also excited because a new chapter in my life would start tomorrow.

Al came early the next morning to pick me up. All of my stuff - including my stereo - fit neatly in the back of the van with room to spare. Al was, of course, devastated because his fiance had called things off. We spent the entire trip listening to Shattered Dreams by Johny Hates Jazz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctwqa3QCwMw

But we still managed to have a good time. We had always had a good friendship and it was therapeutic to talk about our ended relationships. Somewhere near Fredericksburg, we were supposed to pick up I-85. We got incredibly lost on a crossroads. We laughed hysterically at nothing. We went all three wrong directions before finally getting turned around the right way and picking up 85. We stopped at the first Cracker Barrel I ever ate at and that made us a lot less punchy. I don't think either one of us slept the night before. I was worried about Geoff and wishing there were a way we could work it out. But, let's face it, the biggest success factor in a relationship is close proximity.

Al and I finally arrived in Charlotte around 9PM - about 4 hours later than we should have been there. Mama greeted us. And Al and I began to unload the van into my new apartment - the other half of my mom's duplex. The first thing Al wanted to do the next morning was to drive to Monroe, NC, where his biological father owned a golf course. We got there and we just drove by it, I thought we were going to go in so he could meet his dad, but I guess it was too painful. We went back to Charlotte and stopped at Eastland Mall. We had lunch in Annabelle's and then went to the theater to see Cocktail. It was a nice, feel-good, summer movie. Some guy hit on me while Al was buying popcorn. It did wonders for my ego.

The next day, Al got locked into the apartment. He was sleeping and I didn't want to wake him. Mama was taking me to register for classes. She had to go to her office anyway and the line at the Belk Gymnasium was about a three-hour wait. She said for me to meet her back at the office when I was done. I got all finished by around noon and walked back to her office in the Garinger Building. When we drove into the driveway Al was pressing his nose against the window and he was completely freaked out. Mama said she'd make it up to him. That evening she took us to walk around First Ward. We had a great time at Rosemary's bookshop, which was called Poplar Street Books. Al and Rosemary had a nice chat about her architectural section and Al bought a book as a souvenir. Then we went to eat at Alexander Michael's, which was just a few doors down. The next morning Al left early and I got used to living in Charlotte with my mother again pretty quickly. I didn't realize how much I had missed everything until I was gone for four years.

Here's to Charlotte.