Place and Time

 If you want to go clamming , you go to Hands Creek. That was an axiom I learned when I was probably two years old. It was one of those things you learned when you were born and raised in a certain place, your hometown. That's where you went. If you wanted to go fishing, go to the jetty, the commercial dock or surf casting up to the ocean. Well, unless you had a boat then go out in Gardiners bay. But, whatever you wanted to do, you knew where to do it! Isn't that the way it was? We call that our stomping grounds and we knew every inch. Our stomping grounds usually didn't encompass that large an area when looking back at it, but it was our world growing up. My world was mostly b'low the bridge. I did venture uptown and become familiar with a great deal of that territory but not " intimate. " It is that intimate relationship we had with our old stomping grounds that we remember and treasure so much after we are grown. All the secret places. I think we all had our secret places when we were kids. They were those places we would go to just be alone. I wonder if the kids today still do that? I mean, today they can take their phone with them, a virtual entertainment center, whereas the best I could manage was a comic book or pencil and paper. I would be alone with my thoughts, undistracted. I don't know, maybe the kids today just turn off their phone. Somehow I doubt that but it would depend upon the individual I suppose.
 I got to thinking about this after reading some posts. People talking about places and time. Is it the place that changes, or the time? We all say time changes everything don't we? I'd say that was an accurate statement. What changes is our reaction. Those reactions can change the place, over time. The old ways replaced by the new. Then we lament the loss of the old ways and long for their return. As far as the place, the physical location that changes little over time. There may be natural events like storms that take place and alter the landscape, but for the most part, it remains unchanged. It is mans' constructions that do the most to change that landscape, It is man that interferes with nature. But that isn't the place I mean when I talk about " home. " The people are just a great a part of the " place " as the landscape. And it is the people that change. We call it social customs or whatever. Community is a popular way to describe that. The people in a community share common values and traditions. And is for that reason you can't go back. Those people will no longer be there. Even the ones that stayed have changed, as we all do, adapted to the environment, and are not the same. Those values and traditions have changed and in some cases lost altogether. It is what we call the " old days. " Then we write books and stories about them.
 I was talking with my sister and we both agree, we saw the end of an era. It was our generation that was the last. Many books and essays have been written about that ending. It is still a common topic of conversation. As with all such things it is difficult to pin it down. Just when was the last. and what was the cause? Time is the answer, time and time alone. I remember those old days with fondness, although I wasn't an active participant. No, I was just an observer. I was like a spectator at the races, I saw the crash and felt the thrill of it all, and just moved along. It makes no difference, nothing was going to stop time anyway. It was time. I was fortunate enough to have witnessed a small portion of that time and place before it disappeared forever. I am grateful for that. But that's is also the beauty of it all. Time and place remain the same in our memories, and we can visit whenever the mood arrives. We can go back to those secret places, our place, our time. And, it's a good thing.