A Road Was Here

This is the truth. A road was here and still is, but now we barely see it. When I was a child old enough to understand what was around me, there was a country road, a road of people going to work the fields and bringing in crops in horse-drawn wagons.

I don't know how old this road is. Probably since these places are inhabited. Interestingly, only 8 km away is a village called Baia, which was also the first capital of medieval Moldavia, a Neolithic settlement has been discovered, "A dwelling of about 92 square meters from the first phase of the pre-Cucuteni period dating from 5200-5100 BC", source.

Now I'm not concerned about how long this road has been made of pounded ground... 7,000 years or 100 years, I wonder how long the road will be from now on.

A little behind you can see a hilltop, you can vaguely see some kind of monument. It's the highest spot here, a favorite playground in my childhood. That hill is full of snails, white snail shells, small and resembling amphorae.

I used to collect these shells with my friends and various rocks that had shell marks on them. At that time I didn't understand what those stones were and as the sea was far away from those places, I didn't even know that those shells were from the sea.

Much later I found out, I learned that this was the Sarmatic Sea, so these hills and valleys are a sea bottom. A sea that existed 28 million years ago!

From the Pliocene onwards (5.333-2.58 MA BC) its depth progressively shrank, so that its fragmentation into a series of smaller basins resulted in the Aral Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea, which evolved separately.Source

I've always wondered... where does this passion of mine for the sea come from? Because I'm crazy about the sea. If a year goes by and I don't get to see the sea, I consider that year lost to me. Where does this love of the sea come from?

Perhaps because the first part of my childhood was spent on these lands that have been a sea bottom for millions of years?
I wish that were the explanation!

Now the seabed looks different. Instead of whales, sharks, and other amphibians, there are people, smaller and larger animals, and lots of insects. All of them, and all of them with their smaller or larger lives...

... and grass, lots of grass. Wild grass. A place where I used to spend every summer day with my friends, my playmates, and schoolmates. We didn't know how to swim and yet we existed at the bottom of a once huge ocean, the Paratethys Ocean or Sarmatic Sea!

We were small children and our grandparents took us to church every Sunday. I would be lying if I said I liked it. What I want to say is that there I heard about Heaven and Hell.

For me here was heaven!

Especially since, participating with my grandparents in many funerals, I remembered from the priest's sermon that after death we will go to a place full of greenery.

Speaking of life and death, I heard this short story...

*Life after death

A couple made an agreement for whoever died first to return and inform the other about the afterlife. Their biggest fear was that there was no life after death. After a long life together, the husband was the first to die. Keeping his word, he made the first contact:
Him: Marion ... Marion!
Her: Is that you, Bob?
Him: Yes, I came back as I promised you.
Her: That's great! how is it there
Him: Well, I wake up in the morning, I have sex for breakfast and then I stop at the golf course and have sex again, it's noon, and then I have sex a few more times. Then, I have a wonderful lunch with lots of greens. I fly around the golf course a bit more, then have sex for the rest of the afternoon. After dinner I'm back at the golf course again and again I have a lot of sex until late at night. I need a little time to get some sleep and then the next day everything starts the same way.
Her: Oh, Bob, are you in Heaven?
He: No, I'm still on Earth, I'm a rabbit in Arizona...

It was a long journey and a short stay through my childhood places. Reason enough for plenty of memories and nostalgia.

This place is called Glimeii Valley and is located in the north-east of Romania. Here I lived some beautiful years of my life, about sixty-five years ago. I was there, at my grandparents', right after I was born, almost halfway through the last century.

When I travel to the village of my childhood I come here, on the plateau of Glimeii Valley. I have visibility all around, a lot of freedom in front of my eyes, as I don't have now, in the town where I live.

I always go the old way. I don't know how old it is... 7,000 years or 100 years, a road that is increasingly conquered by nature.

If you don't look carefully you can't even see the road. Not many people pass through here anymore, that makes it even more valuable to me.

That's how I ended up in the village, at my grandparents' old house. Very close to the Glime Valley. It's like seeing a ghost, like seeing myself coming home after a day spent with friends!

Just an illusion. It's Justin, my nephew. My younger brother's son, the one who lives in my grandparents' old house. My last connection to these places!

@bluemoon	Thank you!	Disclaimer
	I made this post with passion, effort, and respect for you. I hope the result proves it.	Since English is not my first language, please forgive any grammatical errors that I can easily make.

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