On & Off Earth

Growing up in Richmond, we occasionally took a road trip to visit family west of Lexington. That meant driving Rt. 250, Broad Street Road, prior to the construction of I-64. Along that fairly straight but rolling drive, we were always on the lookout for the first cresting of a hill when we could see the mountains far off in the distance. I had a flashback to those days recently in Louisa because it is in Louisa where you can first see those Blue Ridges.

The use of superlatives in our world has reduced their original impact to the mundane; neither a pizza nor a sandwich will ever be: ‘epic’. Very little that happens on a daily basis is ‘unbelievable’ any more. One word that does seem to be holding up, either as an adjective or a noun, is the word, extreme.