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KEEP IT BETWEEN THE DITCHES
I was ten when I heard those words while driving out in the country in my father’s Chevy.
Keep it between the ditches girl, is what he said as he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep as we headed into town after finishing a hauling job my father had done.
Keep it between the ditches, you’re doing good. Oops watch out for this and out for that.
Keep it between the ditches darling and we won’t be telling your mother I let you drive.
I was in my early twenties when my father and I got that close again. Driving down the highway with my son’s car seat in a 95 Chevy truck I heard my father say. Keep it between the ditches sweetheart, that’s my grandson you’re responsible for in back.
Keep it between the ditches.
I’ve never been straight down the middle. I’ve always veered either left or right, but my father being the first to know who and what I really was kept me in place, and treasured my secret many times when he would say. Keep it between the ditches.
It took thirty one years and my father already having made his transition, but I feel his smile and hear his voice in his knowing I’ve found love and happiness, and yes daddy I understand it now. Just keeping it between the ditches.
