Today was a busy day, running around trying to do a variety of things related to my car and my license. Part of it involved going to the social security office which is located in my hometown.
It was a rather somber experience. Driving into the city, it feels like home. But rest assured, it doesn't look like home anymore. The Square, once filled with stores that were fun to shop in -- and that were half way decent -- are now replaced with junky dollar stores, transient make shift shops and run down businesses. I stopped into a shoe store that I was surprised to see there still; my Nana used to take me there every August for school shoes, because they sold Stride Rite and actually fitted us into them. The owner was still there - and I had to walk inside for a minute. It transported me back in time which was nice...but sad at the same time.
I drove around a bit, drove by the houses I used to live in over the years, and it seems the neighborhoods haven't changed much, but the feel of the city has. It will always be my home, and I will always feel a kinship there. But I don't know that I'm loving the direction in which the community has gone.
Funny how so much can stay the same, and so much has changed.
5 comments:
I used to work right in that square and I know what you mean.
So............you're repeating the saying 'you can't go home again'?
Sometimes things don't always change for the better, huh?
Hugs
I used to love Sparks. I went with my mom all the time.
I was born in Philly, but by the age of three my family had moved to Sudbury. I have a deep and abiding love for Eastern MA, and Boston in particular.
Growing up my family often went into the North End for dinner (my mother's family is from Italy - her father off the boat), and there was a little restaurant on a side-street called Sabatino's that we used to frequent - it was excellent. Even after we moved to NY in the summer of '78 (right into the middle of Yankees territory - ugh), we would still make the 3 hour drive just to eat there.
In 1991 I transferred to Emerson College and spent my first three weekends scouring the North End for the restaurant before one of the locals told me it had closed in the summer of 1990 (and remained in the city until 1999). It felt like I had lost a little piece of my childhood. It also didn't help that the few restaurants I bothered trying in the North End were tourist traps with mediocre (at best) food.
Every time I return to Boston, something familiar and comforting has gone - the Tasty Diner in Harvard Square, the Rathskellar, Deli Haus - while I'm sure that the redevelopment is a financial boon for the city, it's running through my past with what feels like a slash and burn attack.
Sorry for the long rant.
Kevin -
WOW. The Rathskellar...isnt that a place of days gone by. I just mentioned that place today as a matter of fact!
Ah yes, the North End has changed some. My favorite Grotta La Strada which had mediocre food but was just a great place has also gone. The only saving grace w. the North End is that normally some semblence of Italian restaurant will occupy the space where another one has passed from. I can't quite say the same for my home town.
Glitter - OMG, had to fight the urge to go into Sparks. They had the cutest dress in the window! I haven't been in YEARS but thought for sure I"d end up wallowing in nostalgia while I was there!
E - That's so funny, I forgot you used to work there!! And you know what, it's so different from even then -- which was worlds away from what I grew up with.
Martie - Well, I suppose you CAN go back home, so long as you don't hold too tightly to days gone by... ;)
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