Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Walking with the Ghosts ... memories around every corner ...

In Stratford there are many, many, many magnificent brick and stone houses lining the streets ... I had forgotten how beautiful they were until I came back to town this past week ...

This morning I decided to take advantage of a beautiful morning, and walked downtown to do my computer and other stuff ... I followed a path I walked many, many times when I was a high school student and walked from home to school ...

With each step, I found myself remembering something else ... an old girl friend who lived here ... another who lived there ... the old pedestrian bridge over the rail way cut where we used to race to watch teh locomotives go by ... our tobogganing hill ... the park where one summer as 12 year olds we hid dirty magazines to look at later ... the hill where we used to race go-carts ... the soccer and baseball fields where we played for hours ... with each step there came another memory ...

I realized the last time I likely walked this route was back in my pre-University days when I was dating a young woman who lived along the route and together she and I would often walk through the park ... that realization alone brought back a flood of memories ...

But it was the houses that struck me. Each house is beautiful and different and majestic ... walking down the back streets of Stratford is an architectural adventure ... it reminded me of how special it was to grow up in a place like this ...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there!
I just checked out your blog and was really moved by your reflections on your life in Stratford and your sermon to your home church. It may "just" be a building but as you well know from the fire in your church in MB-letting go of sacred spaces that hold precious pieces of our lives is hard ass stuff to work with. Bless you on the Journey-