Can We Talk 2

Nothing Stays The Same

         I read yet another story recently involving kids and the school bleachers. It reminded me of my school bleachers which were cement built into a hillside. There were no shenanigans under them.

         Yesterday, I drove by the old football field, which I usually ignore. But this time I strained my neck to see without wrecking on the busy road. They are gone! Trees and shrubs fill that hillside. The football field is now a parking lot for the county employees. The school was converted to a much needed larger office space years ago. Already there are more offices further south at the city's border. Like schools that are soon overflowing, so are government offices apparently.

         I felt very sad. All the times gym teachers made us run up and down the steps in the aisles are a distant memory. Watching games and homecoming pomp and pageantry have faded with my youth and ability to walk, much less run, up those steps. But there are also other changes in that nearby region.

         New businesses have spring up. The shops where we went for sodas or treats have been replaced by upscale cafes. Without teen customers, you can't have businesses that cater to them. Even the paper recycling bin that appeared after the school closed on the far corner of the lawn has disappeared.

         The parking spaces have all been reserved for residents and offices just uphill from my old school. I used to walk home everyday and went right through this lovely area that's now so congested with traffic. The lack of parking makes it undesirable for many people to do business downtown which is only one block away, formerly known as Main Street, now known as the downtown mall. It's all bricked in with no side streets.

         Another thing we didn't have when I was in school is homeless people plopped out on the mall all day every day, no matter the weather. We have plenty of shelters in town with air conditioning, but they prefer to socialize with more people in the sun.

         My grandmother's house on a busy intersection, where many relatives and friends have stayed, is now a barber shop. Oh, the memories of that place. The shopping center with major department stores is almost abandoned, and the county is using some of that space and parking lot for its purposes. What was once "the country" is now a thriving hectic business community with new roundabouts being constructed each year.

         No, nothing stays the same. Outside a museum or in our memories, that is.