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| A Mini High School Reunion: Me, Kelli, Jenny, and Emily holding the babies. (Niveah, Molly, Ella, and Noelle) |
One of the main reasons I began the
'101 goals' list was in the hopes of final reconnecting with people from the past. There are so many people I love and adore that I haven't made the effort to visit or talk to over the years. That said, the past couple weeks have been amazing as I finally reached out to old friends, have been reunited, and well, as expected, have had an amazing time.
I visited Kelli in Winnebago. We hadn't seen each other for maybe two years, despite the fact that she's just lived an hour and a half from me for the past year. Her husband took Spencer and I boating on the Rock River, double bonus for reconnecting.
Maddie, also from high school, and I have seen each other twice in the last couple weeks, as she just moved to Chicago to take a teaching job.
Seeing old friends. It really has made me happy. I saw most of them in Galena (see first picture), when I went back for the first time in nearly two years. The last time I was there I was actually with my mom, celebrating her 60th, and final, birthday.
The town has changed. As a once-local who hasn't visited much in ten years I really notice it. It's little things. Like the way the Newton's old home on Park Ave is now light blue rather than white. The mansion Jessica P's dad had been working to fix-up for years on end, right across from Grant Park, looks as though it's finally finished. And it's bigger things. Rec Park has been completely reworked. You can no longer drive in a circle around the park: the road mom used to bounce along to pick us up from the pool has been covered with grass, picnic benches and playsets have been built over it. A wide sidewalk has been put in along the road leading to the pool (it was always an unsafe bike ride growing up). What was once Sullivan's or Stair's (our family's small-time grocery store followed by a number of other businesses) is now a bridal store. The gas station by Piggly-Wiggly (formerly Dick's) has been turned into a Chinese Buffet. No joke. There's a new hospital on the west end of town and, a disappointment to me, Galena's green flood gates have been painted beige. Just outside of Galena, in Dubuque, Cinema Center 8 is gone. The place where mom and dad took us to countless movies on hot summer days, is now just a field of parched grass.
I could go on for far longer, and also list all the people who are now married, who have families, who have passed away, there's just so much change. Looking at it from a distance makes it apparent. With mom gone, seeing the changes made me even more sentimental. Parts of our families past have literally been bulldozed, built over, repainted, and forgotten. Life really does go on.
It's why it's been so great to reconnect with high school friends. They represent a link to my past. My family's past in Galena. Connections to them mean I still have a link to my hometown despite having no super close family there. It's odd for my sisters and I. We grew up in a town where we don't have a home anymore. It makes it easy to forget how many memories are there, and how much support. After going back, I feel grounded again.
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| Galena, IL |
