Part 2 Hometown continued

Part 2 Hometown continued by Aline SmithsonAugust 27, 2012

Kimberly Strom, untitled, Challex, France

Anna Kress, No Title, Oporto, Portugal

Vicky Stromee, Gabby’s Vigil, Tucson, AZ

Danielle L Goldstein, Sunset Tryst at the Beach, Westport, CT

Mona Chughtai, Midwestern Sunset, Madison, WI

Tama Hochbaum, Coker Arboretum, Chapel Hill, NC

Tracey N. Freeman, Tree Performing, Houston, TX

Mark Kalan, Picnic Table Rockland Lake, Valley Cottage/Rockland Coutnty/NY

Ali Donnelly, Coal and Hills, Ashland, Kentucky

Marla H Bane, It Used To Be Bigger, Patterson, NJ

409 E 40 Street, Paterson, NJ 07504 – http://goo.gl/maps/Swmvy

I was home for a high school reunion in June, 2011 and drove around Paterson, New Jersey – my hometown. I hadn’t been there for many years. I went to see my elementary school, high school, the synagogue we went to, the park I hung out at where I became a pseudo-hippie, Sunshine’s Deli, Ben & Bob’s, Passaic Falls, Johnny & Hange’s, where Toby’s used to be, the Bonfire, my grandfather’s store King’s on 21st Avenue, the library on East 33rd Street where dreams were made and most of all the home I grew up in. I drove up and down my street. I knew the street number but I could not recognize the house I lived in for over 10 years. I kept looking at it but refused to believe this was once my grandparent’s home, where my mother grew up and where we moved to from Forest Hills, Queens when my grandparents downsized (before that was a word in our vocabulary). I stood outside my rental car wanting to ring the doorbell but couldn’t. Instead I cried and for a moment everything stopped and it was as it used to be. I could see everyone up and down our block and everything was as it used to be so many years ago. I left when I went away to college in Washington, DC and a few months later my father died and my mother sold the house and moved. It used to be white with black trim and it used to be bigger.