Old Stomping Grounds

Today, by surprise, I happened to find myself in my childhood neighborhood. I knew we were headed to Aurora, but it's a pretty big suburb.  What were the chances?

All of a sudden, by way of a new road, we were driving by my old middle school.  Then Utah Park, then on to my old house, followed by my elementary school.  Wow.  It was cool.  All the roads even had bike lanes (good job City of Aurora).

Needless to say, today has been a fun "tour of the memories".

Yes, Mom, my apple tree is quite big and looks healthy.  Yes, the plum tree is gone.  Actually, all bushes and shrubs are gone.  No more jumping off the roof into the snow covered bushes.  They took the basketball hoop down (why?)  The house next door is for sale.  My Elementary school doesn't look as big as it did when I was 7.  The playgrounds seem smaller.  The "long walk to school" isn't actually that long at all.  Everything looks different as a "grown up".

I'm happy to have lived there when I did, but I'm also happy to not live there anymore.  Each home builds different character and different memories.