It was a lovely day today and for a change I was out and about in the morning hours, a time normally spent sleeping. I had a few errands to run and took my camera along intending to stop off at a friend’s on the way home to photograph his two cats. Before I knew it I was driving past a house I haven’t lived in for nearly a quarter of a century. I was disappointed at first that the shot was out of focus. Then I thought about it for a second. When I lived there from 1975 until 1985, it was always more or less out of focus too. Those who knew me then understand why, the rest don’t need to.
I will have to make a point of going back there some day and holding the camera steady. Not sure why I was shaking but it was an emotional moment. Even now there are a lot of memories attached to the place. I find myself grateful that whoever owns it now hasn’t torn it down to build condos yet. The little house on the corner we knew as 804a is still there.
Most of the other shots I took this morning turned out fine including several of my friend’s two beautiful cats. Shadow and Socks are two of the prttiest cats I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. They always come to greet me whenever I drop over. I have been threatening to take their pictures ever since they were kittens. Too bad I missed that stage as they were super cute as only kittens can be. Even as adults they are quite striking.
After that I took a long slow drive home snapping a few pictures along the way. Snapshots are really the only kind of memories we have, now that I think about it. Whether on film, digital or simply in our minds, the images we carry around of our past are still images for the most part, a moment frozen in time, an image our mind and time have had more than enough time to edit. The result is a memory that like the above image, is just a wee bit fuzzy and out of focus.
I got the last of my Christmas shopping done today, made good on a promise to an old friend and visited a life gone by. It’s good to know where we’ve been and even good to go back now and then for a visit. The past is just that however, the past. The world and people move on. The ten years I spent living at 804a were both wonderful and terrible years all at the same time. I don’t live there any more. All of the people I knew then have either died or moved away as have I. My life is a little more in focus these days and as a result I have much more in it. Still, it was an interesting decade and an unforgettable chapter in my life.
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