2001-03-08 - 15:33:16

March 8, 2001

Fun

I am at a computer in a public library in Tampa, Florida and trying to learn a bit about using a compter to go on the internet.

Refined thinking on "Going Home." The old saying, "You Can't Go Home Again," changes to, "You can't go home again and find what you are looking for because it is no longer there."

We have been milling around the area with our old friend and the only familiar thing I have seen is parts of Ybor City, The Columbia, La Tropicana, old store fronts, the ethnic mix I remember and the buildings once occupied by the cigar factories.

What used to be open spaces (wide open that is) is filled to the gills by houses. Ah, street names are familiar and Lowry Park is still there and the Hillsborough River still flows its serene way to the bay. Express highways interlace in confusing braids.

Haven't been by the old college yet butI hear it is still there. Downtown as I knew is is no longer there, replaced by towering edifices. Franklin Street seems to have a few of the old store fronts though.

The main east west drag through town now stops at Tampa Iternational Airport, so to get to Courtney Campbell Causeway entails a zig-zag course. Memories replace all the modern stuff and I remember that once we lived at the north end of the runway, just about at take off point, close enough that the noise was deafening -- that was a time that boonies ruled.

We have been enjoying our visit with our friend very much, and her daughter who lived in Tampa also has visited several times since we came.

In fact the ladies are off to the beach at Clearwater and Lord knows where else. I begged off and had them drop me at the library so I could get my fix for the day and the days missed. Riding around in the places no longer familiar to me was disturbing to say the least.

Our friend is the same, just the outer cover has aged a bit and her daughter has grown from a pre-teen to a grown woman who has four grown children. But I can still see the little girl there, shyly peeking around the corners, I think her sweetness has grown greater with the years. I greatly admire her treatment of her kids and their great affection for her and their grandma.

I am working under the threat of having to close at any moment when there are people waiting to get on the computer. So will close for now and maybe be back later.

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