Flashback Friday

I loved Chambers Street.  I loved the big old rambling Victorian on a historically designated street.  I loved the yard with the yard work, the back yard that was transformed from an ordinary area to a secret garden with three ponds and one waterfall.  I loved my 4 car garage/bar and I loved my job and those I worked with.  I loved my family and most of the neighbors.  I loved my old cars and I loved going to car shows on the weekends.  I'm sure looking back on my deathbed I'll remember those days as the best as an adult.  Next would likely be my relatively short but great days in BFE, just me and Missy.  One world closed and another opened.  It is a silly exercise to start second-guessing moves:  if I'd stayed in G-Burg or BFE I would have missed the grandkids and the exploration of a new state.  But when I am weak and wistful I'd like to have stayed in anyone one of those places.  The current Mrs. Blythe wanted to move close to her daughter so with reluctance but ever hopeful I followed.     

I don't know when this was taken but I'm guessing between '95-99.  I stopped smoking in 2000 and looks like Brendan is pretty big.  I am definitely holding a cigarette and lighter.  I guess Kenzie took this picture and the white fuzz over there on the right is picture degradation.  

In what was standard practice back then, I was doling money out to anyone who needed it.  Missy would have been the only one without a paw out, but its what we do, isn't it Dads?  I never wanted my kids to be without anything.  We didn't spoil them, nor lavished them with stuff, but we didn't want them to be without a little pocket money.  Of course, I could have been getting ready to head up to Crappy's to meet someone, who knows.  

I don't want anyone to be weeping about my long ago lamentable journey from home.  I have rectified that a bit with the Cabin in the Woods, and when I am finished babysitting I will be spending a great deal more time up in Northlandia.   Time doesn't stop and the various incarnations of our lives can pile up and it is only natural to reflect and compare.  Happiness is never guaranteed and can be elusive.  But in those years I found it in ample supply.  I suppose I'm lucky, some people spend their whole lives looking for what I found once.  

Memory is bittersweet - it makes us remember things we don't want to forget, but can remind us of better times.