Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth

[photofungi]

Yesterday was a weird day. Kind of like a time warp....except everything was different. I started the day with a photo shoot in Boothwyn...sounds normal enough. The family I shot was the family that lived across the street from me in Upper Darby. This is where I lived from when I was born until I was 8.The Upton family were like my extended family through that time. I spent as much time at their house as at my own. Joan was like my second Mother, and Tommy and Stacey were my best friends. For some reason, the Dad’s were simply not a factor, but there. We have kept in touch a bit throughout the years since. They were really excited when Eli was born, and came to showers etc. They were also all at my wedding. I have been doing pictures for them for about 15 years now. I started with a family portrait , shot Stacey’s two weddings, and have shot Stacey’s kids christenings and Birthday (they are twin girls). Saturday was their first birthday. I shot the whole family including Tommy and his wife and son (Tom got married in Hawaii, so I didn’t shoot his wedding). Any way, it is just like a time warp hanging out with these people. I enjoyed it, although as usual I spent my time taking pictures, and observing, not interacting too much.Nice time anyway. When I left Stacey’s house, I had a little time to kill while waiting to hear from Joanna, who I was meeting for dinner. I decided to continue the time warp, and take a ride through some places I haven’t been in a while. I really wanted to see the house my Mom’s parents lived in, and where my Mom grew up. I haven’t been there since my Grandparents died in the mid 70’s. Even though I was pretty young, I have many strong visual memories from this house. It is on Pine Street, in Darby. I remember the property being like a small farm. If you know Darby at all, this sounds impossible. My Grandparents had a good amount of land for that area, only because the property runs in a triangle shape along the train tracks, so there is a little extra land. My Grandparents were straight from Germany, and were excellent gardeners. I remember amazing gardens. There was also a double garage and a barn on the property. I also remember an outhouse attached to the garage....weird. In the center of the property was a gazebo my Grandfather built for my Mom. The step up to the gazebo had my Mom’s name carved into it. There were many trees which my Grandfather cared greatly for. I remember the only time he yelled at me was when I broke a branch off of one of those trees in the yard. This was scary with his strong German accent. Upon driving by a few times very slowly I noticed the property really is bigger than most in the area, but it was much smaller than I remember. The barn was still there, and the garage, and the gazebo. I could not see if the outhouse was still there. I wanted to get out and see if my Mom’s name is still in the entry way to the gazebo, but I didn’t. I would have also liked to have seen the inside, including the kitchen and basement. The kitchen was still old style, where the stove was in a separate room off the back of the house. I still have dreams about their basement. It is spooky in my dreams, so it is kind of spoky in my memories as well. Anyway, I spent most of my time there playing outside, and in the neighorhood. I was supposed to sleep over their house once, but I remember being scared when it came time for my Mom to leave, so I cried. my Mom didn’t make me stay. I think I had sleeping issues even then, because I remember thinking I did not want to be left awake alone in that house, because my Grandparents went to bed pretty early. Any way, The house happily looked petty much the same, except instead of being white as I remember it, everything was painted red. Yuck. Maybe some day I’ll get out and ask if I can at least look in the yard. Since I was there, I also took a short ride into Collingdale to go past my other Grandparents house. My Dad’s Dad just Died this past year, but My Grandmother still lives there. The houses are very close. My Mom used to tell me that she could hear my Dad Start his car ( he had some kind of hot rod with glass packed mufflers for louder sound-this was leagal in the 50’s, I guess) from her house. Even though I have been to the house in Collingdale a bunch of times in the past 30 years, everything seems smaller and closer together than I remember it. My Grandmother wasn’t home, and I guess my Cousin who lives there with her was at work or something. I didn’t hang out too long. I just drove around a bit seeing if i could remember how to get to different places i used to go to. The pool was right down the street, but it looks like it has been abondoned for years. The high school which I used to watch football games at is now the community college and community center. Mostly everything seems essentially the same. I finally heard from Joanna, and went to meet her, but I decided to complete the trip by driving past Fitzgerald Mercy hopital, where I was born, and through Yeadon, past my preschool (which is now a lot where they are going to build something big...probably a target. It;s a shame, the building was a cool old stone schoolhouse}. I drove past the Radbourne Road house, where I spent the first 8 years of my life, but didn’t stop. I have been there a few times in the past few years. The Uptons still lived in that house until last year. I contiued on going down 69th strret (where we used to shop). 69th street is very different now. The only things that are the same are Tower Theater, and Sears. I will never forget that Sears, because I Thought my Mom abandoned me there one day while shopping. I got separated from her in the store, and ran around for what seems like hours crying for her. I remember ending up in the parking lot. If the car was still there, my Mom would find me when she was leaving....To think I thought my Mom would leave with out me. Happily, the Mustang my Mom drove was still out there, and some lady eventually helped me find my Mom. Any way, this is getting boring I bet......I continued my drive up WestChester Pike, to City Ave. I drove past the Moto Photo I used to work at, and it is now a Mexican resturaunt. I wonder what happened there. I then spent a few hours with Joanna and her new husband Chris. This was also a bit of the past, my recent past, but still my past. Joanna was someone I spent almost every day with for a few years, and now only talk to every once and a while.
I don’t know why this this little trip was so weird for me. I couldn’t help but to feel sad all day. Kind of like a haunting sadness. I don’t understand this feeling, but I get it whenever I think about the past. I guess one of the reasons I like photography is because I can preserve moments in time. A picture is the next best thing to a time machine. Not nearly as cool, but the next best in existence. I don’t know, I wanted to say something here, but I don’t think I did. I am a bit weirded out by the sadness I was feeling, and don’t really know how to explain it. I will have to explore this.