Bill & I took the dog for a walk after dinner last night in Valley Green, a beautiful and scenic section of Wissahichon Park where all my ancestors before me probably took that same exact walk a thousand times.
I cannot remember the last time I walked in Valley Green this time of the day. We generally go down in the late morning or early afternoon with the grandkids to walk the trails and feed the ducks. The last time being when Shaun (age 5yrs) announced he was hunting for bear for dinner. Ahh, to be 5 years old again.
Walking along the trails early last evening with Bill beside me and the dog at hand, I could not help but feel the peace and serenity of this place with the ducks leisurely swimming in the creek below us and the joggers running sporadically pass our way.
As we walked we saw a few folks fishing and I could almost pick out the exact location where my grandfather took me as a little girl to fish in those same waters. I could envision him clearly with pole and bucket in hand looking for the perfect spot along the creek to fish. We always went at the crack of dawn and many times I fell asleep bundled up at his side until the sun rose high in the sky as he sat quietly trying to snag that perfect fish (which by the way was generally catfish). Grandpop never ate the catfish himself but gave it away to those he worked with at Midvale Steel who enjoyed eating that type of fish.
Lately, I have been experiencing a resurge of memories from my childhood some bad but some very very good. I was very fortunate to have two grandparents in my life whom I knew without a doubt loved me unconditionally. How many people can say that today? These two people were instrumental in my development as a human being. Those mornings fishing with grandpop and those evenings sitting on the front steps with grandmom are memories I will cherish forever.
1 comment:
That really is a beautiful post.
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