Have you ever had a part of your history torn down?
The Subfest is being held off of the subase this year, most likely because there are still security issues at the navy base. I took a little midnight drive not too long ago in attempt to try and find where the new location is. Surprisingly, the carnival is now sitting in an empty field where the old navy housing neighborhood, Dolphin Gardens, used to be.
I'm talking about a set of navy housing a few miles from the naval subase in Groton, Connecticut. All of the houses in that neighborhood are gone. Cleaned away. The only traces of its existence are the two street signs: Proteus Ave. and Nereus Ave.
Let's backtrack to the 1970's. Jane was a couple years old and Joan was a newborn. My mom and dad drove across country from California after he was stationed at the naval base here. They moved into a house on Proteus Avenue. That neighborhood was their home for a few years. Neighbors came and went. Every house in the neighborhood was hit for trick-or-treating every Halloween.
Then they moved into Nautilus Park. Flash forward about a decade. I'm ten years old. Even though dad's been retired for around eight years and now living out of navy housing, mom brings me to the same neighborhood with costume on and pillow case in hand to go trick-or-treating. (All the houses were connected to each other so even on a bad night you could still fill a pillow case of candy.)
I wasn't able to fully experience how life was in navy housing, but I relied on the stories told to me from my family. When mom and I used to go to navy housing looking for good yard sales, we'd take a drive through their old neighborhood and mom would tell me another story about the old house as we drove past it. Tonight I didn't expect to see the neighborhood gone as if it weren't there in the first place. I wasn't even aware of how long ago it was torn down. I expected to take a drive on familiar streets but was blocked off by fences instead.
There was a lot of history in that neighborhood. Marks on a doorjam that measured a child's growth, worn out patches of grass where kids used to play on swings, mothers who practically went insane when their husband were out to sea... I know of a few families still around here that used to live there. I bet they don't even know that it's gone. It's like one of those things in your past that you don't realize how much you miss it until it's gone. All that's left to enjoy of it is the memories.
----------- Speaking of moving out of housing, Tish has moved into her new domain, solpoword. And I believe Reese has a new place too, raptured. Pass along some good karma to them.
Replies: 2 comments
i'm up for anything of the sort. but hey! if you like you can blog with us on the Mail Order Brides blog too. =)
Posted by Erma @ 07/03/2002 01:01 AM EST
hey we should put together a group blog of some sort. what you think?
