Took a drive to Nostalgialand yesterday. I had planned to go to Quakerbridge Mall not far from our old home, but found myself bypassing that to drive to Ewing where we used to live. Our home of 41 years looks about the same. I assume the four Down Syndrome young men are still living there (the agency we sold it to maintains it as a group home) and I took pictures. Across the street, the home of my dear friend, Elaine M., who died almost 4 years ago has been painted and otherwise spruced up. It's now beige with green shutters-- good choices and it looks great. Took some pictures of that, too, then her son, Greg, who still lives there, came out and greeted me warmly. Greg said they had replaced rotted wood here and there, added a different entrance to the breezeway, and otherwise improved it.
Elaine always hated that house--symptomatic of her troubled marriage, I think--and she would have loved having it look so nice. Hmm...maybe not. I remember her saying houses were "supposed to be" painted white with black shutters. Well, to an extent, she was stuck in her ways, far to the right of Bush and Cheney and that used to drive me crazy. Now, I'd give anything to hear her voice such nonsense again.
Of course, I went to the cemetery (less than a mile away). Took a picture of her grave--with the addition of her husband of 50 plus years, Len, who died in August--and the grave next to it of her grandson. Sean was only 14 when he died, of a rare (and unsuspected until he was 12) heart problem. It's hard to believe that was 21 years ago, but it was.
After that, I didn't stay in Ewing long. It was a good place to live and raise kids, but as happens in a lot of area, it's become run-down and seedy. When I got home, I remarked to Pat that it was good we got out when we did. He agreed, we went on to other things, and that's enough of looking backward for now.