A Road Less Travelled

I have been very nostalgic of late. It’s almost embarrassing. I’ll be driving along with Adiel and we’ll pass something that’s different from when I lived here and I’ll start gushing about what used to be there. I’ll do this about places I didn’t even like.

“Do you remember that junky old drive-in theater that had been closed and falling apart since before either of us can remember?”

“Yes.”

“(sigh) Why’d they tear that down?”

Really, it’s embarrassing.

And there are entire new ways to get around town now that the Bayfront Connector is open. It’s a road that connects one of the major highways around Erie with (big shocker here) the Bayfront. It goes from the Bayfront (hence the name) all the way to I-90 on the other side of town. I’m told it’s a big help, it’s a wonder, it’s fabulous. But I can only drive so far on it because beyond that point it doesn’t exist in my Erie. In my Erie the Bayfront Connector is this new fangled thing that only goes from the Bayfront to about 12th street. If you want to get to 38th street you’re taking a different way. I hadn’t even really gotten used to Nagle road being open when I left. And now there’s just about no good reason to even drive on Iroquois Avenue unless you’re heading out to the Haborcreek Walmart or to North East.

If you understood any part of that last paragraph that means you either live in Erie or you used to. If you didn’t then just understand that large parts of my Erie are changing and I haven’t changed with them. I mean, if I were down at the Main library I’d probably still use State Street to get to 38th! Ha ha ha!! Hysterical, isn’t it?

Anyway, I think I’m noticing all these little and big changes because my memories of Erie are all from when I moved away. I guess the various visits I’ve made since didn’t make any impressions on me that my childhood home has changed. Sometimes it’s like missing a step on the way upstairs because things just aren’t where I thought they’d be. I mean, I have to go all the way up to Summit just to go to JoAnn Fabrics! And if that’s not a tragedy I don’t know what is.

In a way, though, it’s comforting to notice how Erie has changed because it reminds me that I’ve changed, too. Last time I was at the Main library I was an awkward teen with no idea who I was or wanted to be. I would have been inwardly griping at the decor and hoping everyone would leave me alone. I was there last week with Lily and Malachi and the library looked new to me. But this time I was the one who’d changed. We went to the children’s section and I read them Dr. Suess until my voice went hoarse. I took them to my favorite bit of the library and couldn’t remember why I’d liked it so much. (It might have had something to do with being able to see the bay and now they’ve put a building in the way, but I digress.) I still don’t really like the lack of ceiling, but I’ve come to terms with the décor. They were going for a lake theme and I think I can see it better now.

So I think I’m going to let myself be nostalgic even when it feels silly. Because there’s nothing quite like seeing where you were to be able to see where God has brought you. Even if it means the City of Erie puts a road through a perfectly good college campus that now requires an intersection that would make a rocket scientist gibber. Even then.