Reminiscing

The closure of I75 last week required me to take a different route to work. I decided to travel south on Coolidge, then follow Schaefer all the way to my office at Michigan Ave. That takes me right through the "old neighborhood", and I have found it both unnerving and strangely comforting. What is unnerving is the preponderance of urban blight. But, that isn't all I see as I drive by.

I remember the corner well, with Federals, Cunningham's, A&P and Wrigleys taking up the space from the corner to the Mercury Theatre. It is barely recognizable now. There is a hole in the ground where Wrigleys was, and the signature neon sign of the Mercury Theatre is just an empty lattice. Biffs is now a coney island, and there is still a bus stop just off the corner (where I used to wait patiently to see my friend Debbie's purse dangle out the window to let me know she was on the bus). The steeple of Precious Blood church still stands proud, although the name has now been changed (I think to St. Peter Claver parish).

It's hard to imagine now that I used to walk from Immaculata to DeMotts Drugs (on 7 Mile and Sorrento), then over to Mount Carmel (now Sinai Grace) to deliver dietary trays to the patients at the dinner hour. Then I would walk home to have my own dinner.

And, while I am on the subject of reminiscing, let's not forget that today is the 40th anniversary of our first walk on the moon. I seem to recall holding 3-week old David while I watched it on the TV.

Remember what else happened that year? Woodstock, Chappaquiddick, Richard Nixon's inauguration, the Beatles' last public appearance, the Manson murders, the premier of Sesame Street, to name a few.

Is this what getting older is all about? Remembering lots of first time events that happened before most Americans were born?