random thoughts – Day 1,402 – (Thursday) – hills and memories

Passing the cemetery.

Today’s photo shoot adventure took me to the homeland. Fitchburg. Waze routed me down Route 2 to Mt. Elam Road, a winding road with lots of trees. I went past Forest Hill Cemetery where Mummu was laid to rest in the only piece of land she ever owned. As a kid, my friends and I rode bikes there and hung out on the stone wall in the summer. Across the street from the cemetery was my old junior high school. 

The drive down Rollstone Street took me past the places where my friends and classmates lived. The houses where Darlene, Judy, Cindy, Julie, and Beth lived, then the apartment building where Mummu lived and I spent many weekends of my youth, then after that, the small house where Mummu and Mom lived when Mom was a kid.

There was the red stone church where I was baptized, confirmed, and married, and around the Upper Common, the hills near where I lived until I was ten. As I drove up Prospect Street, I remembered riding my pink and white, one-speed bike up that street, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how I managed it. We kids must have been in good shape, and I’m 100% sure I couldn’t make that hill on a bike today, and it would be a challenge on foot.

Heading down the hill.

After the shoot, I drove slowly down the hill admiring the steeples of two churches and the hills beyond. Passing the older homes with the cool views I imagined that it must be pretty amazing to live in one of them, and especially when they were new in Fitchburg’s early days. 

My family lived in this chunk of town until I was ten, and the big older homes were the types  I dared to imagine living in as I passed by on my bike. I’ve always loved the old homes and the hills and the views. I get edgy when the landscape is too flat. 

Most trips to Fitchburg are filled with memories and melancholy. Time has softened the edges of many memories and roughened the appearance of many of the locations. Or maybe they always looked rough and I just didn’t know it at the time because I was young and idealistic and having fun.