Returning to my childhood home in Pittsburgh for the first time in three years filled me with nostalgia. The last time I was here was for my mothers funeral in July of 2013. She lived a wonderful and fulfilling life, married for over 50 years, raising three children, and passing away in her own bed at the age of 90 in the house she lived in for 60 years.
The day after the funeral, while waiting for my brother to pick me up to drive me to the airport, I stood in front of one of the large plate glass windows that overlooks the front yard of the home. Suddenly a lone cardinal flew in front of the window and landed on a tree branch in the front yard. I knew right away that the cardinal was a sign from my mother, that she was in heaven now, no longer suffering and in pain. My mom simply loved cardinals. She had cardinals of every thing, placemats, napkins, christmas ornaments, candle holders, and little sculptures. Several years later I learned that cardinals are signs of loved ones from the heavens.
Streams of memories came flooding back as I walked the hilly forested streets of the neighborhood I grew up in. I remembered names, places, events, and scents long forgotten. I especially remembered the scents, as they were the scents of summer, from when I was a young boy and had the entire summer off to play outside. The walk was surrealistic. I felt as if the Ghost of Christmas Past was guiding me around my old neighborhood. During the walk, I heard a child call out my name. I turned around to see who had called out to me, but no one was there.
I grew up here, born in 1956, and lived here until 1979. Fortunately my sister still lives in the same house we all grew up in, so I can return home again. I had a very nice visit with my brother and sister, as well as my childhood buddy Fred who I have known since 2nd grade.
Fred drove up from Washington PA to meet me at my childhood home. He drove us around the old neighborhood of Forest Hills that we grew up together playing in. There is not a level road in the entire neighborhood. Many roads exceed 10-15% grades and some roads are over a 25% grade. We drove by the old grade school we met in. The school is gone, replaced by houses. Then we drove by Forest Hills Junior High, also closed, turned into a private school. We also drove by the high school. The high school is still there, but looks vastly different after many modifications and additions over the years. Fred then drove us by his childhood home on the way to the Forest Hills community pool. We spent so many summers splashing around in that pool there in our youth. I remember when they built the pool, the complex was so new and shiny. Now it looks like a 50 year old facility, which it is. After lunch, we had a wonderful visit with Fred’s Mom. I remember her making us iced tea during the summers. I considered iced tea a real treat back in those wonderful days of summer.
Here the outline I used for my Moms eulogy that I gave three years ago. I was able to get through most of it without becoming too emotional.
“So many memories are flooding back.
I remember coming walking home from grade school for lunch and my mother having a hot meal for my brother and I, and reading books to us while we ate. One of my favorite books was called Rascal, a story about a boy and a raccoon. Several years ago, my mother found that book in the cellar and wrapped it up and gave it to me a Christmas present. That 46 year old book was the best Christmas present I ever received.
I remember her taking me to the Carnegie Library most Saturdays when I was little. I would always get the same book, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.
I remember her taking me to see the movie Oliver on my 11th birthday.
I remember when I would use incorrect grammar. The conversation would stop until I repeated the sentence with the correct grammar. A good example of that is my best friend Freddie who is sitting here with us in the back of the room. I would always say me and Freddie, and the conversation would stop until I said Freddie and I.
My mother was valedictorian of her high school class of over 500 students at New Kensington High. She then went onto Westminster College and earned a degree in math. Then she worked as a mathematician at Gulf Oil in 1945, very unusual for a woman at that time. My sister followed in her footsteps. My mother was named after her Aunt Annie who was a doctor back in the early 1900s.
She loved to travel. Every summer her and my Dad would load us up in the car and drive us out west to places like the Tetons, Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park etc. We didn’t have much money, so we camped, gas was 25 cents a gallon and campgrounds were $2 a night. She instilled a love of travel in us. She wanted us to see the National Parks. She is the one who told me about the Canadian Rockies and Moraine Lake, the most beautiful place I have ever seen and my favorite place in the world.
She was a fine woman. Although we are left behind, I am sure she is now enjoying seeing many people that she has not seen in many years.”
Link below to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYOvd2PZoPU
Rob ….. So glad that you are having such a “warm” & rewarding home-coming.
My wife’s family (with 9 siblings at one time)always gets excited when they spot a red-cardinal. They then try to determine which love-one it is. (either parent or one of 4 siblings).
At this point, I have to use Google-Street-View to view the house where I spend 20-years of my youth growing-up. My sister-in-law still lives in the same house that was my wife’s homestead so she is able to visit every few years like you are now doing.
While it is usually best to “branch-out” into this big world, it is nice to have old-time “roots” to re-visit occasionally and reminisce the many “good-times”.
Best of luck with the “rest-of-the-Journey”
Thanks for the kind words and thoughts Frank. I wasn’t sure who wrote this comment at first, but after looking at the email generated notifying me of a comment, I recognized just the domain name, the rest of the sent email address is an IP address, but I knew the domain name as most likely yours.