Al gets a little nostalgic

It's a curious phenomenon to go to a place that is so very foreign in comparison to where I grew up, and yet suddenly be seeing household items that I've only ever known in the context of "home."

I will explain.

When mom died last year a lot of the household items went to Joan and Dave. They are by far the most established and would be the ones most likely to use most of the stuff. Me in my semi-nomadic lifestyle and my wee studio would not have found much use for the fine china or the stemware or the crockery or the silver-plated salad tongs, or the red crystal liqueur decanter, etc. Now they've settled into the new house and unpacked all their stuff, and almost everyday I see little reminiscent tidbits of my younger life. But there is something surrealistic about seeing them here, in the DR, in a completely different house; a completely different atmosphere, and yet there they are. And every item comes with a momentary memory, a flash of days gone by, a little pang of sadness that all those days are gone, and a little pang of joy that I have so many great memories of growing up. It makes me happy to think that a lot of these things will now become part of Aidan's memories too.