Found In the Woods

July 19, 2005

Traveling back

Filed under: Blogging — bsullivan @ 8:42 am

Lately I’ve been wandering backwards deep into my memories. Most of them revolve around the latter days of my time in Newton, MA, where I grew up. Mom and Dad bought the house on 49 Brookside Ave. within a year of my birth. This was a big, old, beautiful house, sitting in a triangle of land between two quiet streets, one with a nice creek running along side it; the Cheesecake Brook.

Anyway, I don’t know why my memory is being stirred up so deeply, but images I had forgotten are coming back to me. Some not as clearly as I’d like. Some I have a hard time believing even happened. Memories…

  • of the 1971 Saab 99 that sat decomissioned in our driveway for the mid-late 1980’s after it suffered too much rust damage from those wonderful Boston winters.
  • of snowstorms, quiet and formidable. Winter wonderland. I love the snow and voyaging in it. This is something that to this day I still take joy in. Like sitting chest deep in snow on the banks of the frozen Potomac River being covered slowly with flakes.
  • of the things in the yard. The old driveway with divots where the cars were, the hole I dug under it and hid with a large stone
  • the cracks in the sidewalk. My tiny hand print in the cement at the end of the front walk, where I remember my Mom asking the city workers if she could have a trowelful to put my handprint in our yard. It is probably still there today.
  • the large garden in the back corner which made for excellent hide-and-go-seek hiding places under the enormous hosta leaves.
  • of the woods in the back yard, and what went on there.
  • of the things I found, and the things I wish I hadn’t.
  • of my old friends.
  • There are many more… yellowed and blurry, disjointed and hazy. Some I’m not even sure if I remember them, or if my imagination is animating an old photo out of one of Mom’s albums. Really, I don’t care. I had a great childhood, full of joy, wonder, disappointment, confusion, sadness, happiness, pride, love and learning. My parents did a great job, and they still do. I hope that I can do some of the same with what I’ve got.

One Response to “Traveling back”

  1. Ron Says:

    WOW!
    Thank you! It was a wonderful house. We loved it very much.
    MOM

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