Memories

Memories tend to be paradoxical in nature, at least to me. When your young you are so busy making memories that you tend not to reflect back on any, but when you get older a picture like the one to the right can bring many racing back into your mind.

This is a picture of a road sign on the front lawn of the school that I attended in Monroe Bridge, Massachusetts. The school you can see in the background was a beautiful four room building with a library and the best gym around.

Monroe Bridge was a small town of 250 people during my childhood. Today, it is a struggling town of about 130. Many wonderful memories were made there. Those of us who grew up in Monroe Bridge grew up in a place and at a time when life was good. I can't remember locking our door at night or worrying about sleeping with the windows open. I remember walking to school in the morning... as an elementary student. I remember riding my bike 5 miles up the road with my friends and swimming at the "Cement Bridge" until dark with NO adult supervision. I remember playing hide-and-seek in the whole town with the flag pole of the school being base. I remember sliding at night on Monroe Hill. I remember winter river walks and winter forts in huge piles of snow Kenny made with the bucket loader. I know he was cleaning the town up after a winter storm, but, deep down, I knew he was making those huge piles of snow for us. I remember swimming in Rowe Pond on a hot summer day. I remember building yet another fort on the Mini-bike trails in the woods by the river. I remember playing basketball with a friend for hours on his hoop which used the public road as a court and never being distracted by one car. I have so many memories of Monroe Bridge to reflect on these days.

Monroe Bridge is a memory of a time when life was good. I often think is life not that good anymore, or am I too old to enjoy it in the way and in the manner that I did as a kid in Monroe Bridge. In recent years, I have recognized that the place may have had more to do with the goodness of life as a child than I once realized, but, just the same, I have no real answer to that question other than to strive to give my own children a bit of that same life. I think it is the right of every child to live a bit of life with no fear of the unknown and in the outdoors running and playing without the constraints of constant security.

Monroe Bridge gave many of us that right years longer than most, and I, for one, count myself blessed for having experienced it as long as I did. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but finding that picture today brought many memories back of old Monroe Bridge and most of those memories were good. And, when most of your past memories are good, well, that is more than one deserves. Blessings!