Back in 1971 I stepped on the train heading for New York City. I was accompanied by my best friend and we were heading for Fort Hamilton. We had both joined the Navy and it was the day to report. Mom and Dad were there to say goodbye. Mom with tears in her eyes and Dad with a firm handshake. I was filled with excitement for this new adventure. I'm off to see the world. I was leaving my home and family behind but knew I would return. I was wrong. Oh, I returned alright, but home wasn't there anymore, it had moved. Home had moved to the past, a different time. A time that only lives in my memory. Even Mom and Dad had moved, to a different house. Their "new" home was on the same street as the old but wasn't the home of my youth. My bedroom wasn't there, my stuff wasn't there and my memories didn't live there, all that was down the road. Mom had saved a few papers and books but everything else was gone. The toys and treasures of my youth, gone. Strangers now lived in my home. And speaking of strange, even the town had changed. Four years makes a big difference. I stayed for about a year in this strange new world before rejoining the navy, never to return. Not at all the way I thought it might go back in 71.
I sometimes find myself living there still, in old stories and photographs. Captured moments in time. There is even a group on Facebook dedicated to this. " Hometown " connect it is called. In reality it is a connection to the past. But time travel is imperfect and there are obstructions,misunderstandings and landing in different times. The past is different for each of us. There are shared experiences and locations, but memories are seldom the same. Another problem is the rewriting of history. Unpleasantness and sorrow occupy dark corners and seldom see light in the future, they remain unexamined. We travel to the past to shed light and happiness on today. Time travel is best done alone.
Yes it was forty three years ago when I stepped on that train. That train was headed west. Like Horace Greely once said, Go West, young man, Go west. The west is full of adventure and opportunity. Go to the west and seek your way in the world. It seems we as Americans have always traveled to the west. Toward the setting sun. Even if we remain stationary, time moves forward. Time moves with the setting sun. Our surroundings will change with us, or around us, that choice is ours, likewise our memories. Getting comfortable with both is the key to happiness. The ability to reconcile what once was, with what is. Past and present. The future lies to the west, you had best get on the train.
I sometimes find myself living there still, in old stories and photographs. Captured moments in time. There is even a group on Facebook dedicated to this. " Hometown " connect it is called. In reality it is a connection to the past. But time travel is imperfect and there are obstructions,misunderstandings and landing in different times. The past is different for each of us. There are shared experiences and locations, but memories are seldom the same. Another problem is the rewriting of history. Unpleasantness and sorrow occupy dark corners and seldom see light in the future, they remain unexamined. We travel to the past to shed light and happiness on today. Time travel is best done alone.
Yes it was forty three years ago when I stepped on that train. That train was headed west. Like Horace Greely once said, Go West, young man, Go west. The west is full of adventure and opportunity. Go to the west and seek your way in the world. It seems we as Americans have always traveled to the west. Toward the setting sun. Even if we remain stationary, time moves forward. Time moves with the setting sun. Our surroundings will change with us, or around us, that choice is ours, likewise our memories. Getting comfortable with both is the key to happiness. The ability to reconcile what once was, with what is. Past and present. The future lies to the west, you had best get on the train.
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