Time is a funny thing. It doesn't seem like I've been married for 15 years. It doesn't feel like I moved away from Michigan 18 years ago. It sure as hell doesn't seem real that I left college 27 years ago. Twenty-seven years. :shudder:
Yesterday, a friend of Hubs posted to FB that he was in Marquette. And I got a case of the jealousies. I also got all nostalgic. I wanted to tell him all the places he could go for a good meal and all the places he could stop for a bit of fun. But I wasn't sure if any of those places were still there.
So I took to Google Maps. And there I was, flying over the city. I was looking for landmarks I remembered. And for some reason, I couldn't find the malls.
Hubs told me that after all that time, they were probably razed. Nobody goes to malls anymore. And I was all like 'but... but... but... it's a mall'.
When I was in college, there were two malls in Marquette. One in the middle of town and the other on the west side. One had a huge parking lot perfect for doing donuts in the snow and the other had a nightclub I used to frequent. (That's all I remember about either of them.)
After some scouring in satellite view, I found them both. They're much smaller than I remember. The one with the nightclub appears to be closed except for a govt office and a dollar store - both on the outside. No more inside stores - which seems silly when you consider how cold it is in Marquette.
Anyway, my favorite sub shop is still there. And my favorite used book store. And another drinking establishment I enjoyed that had a bar shaped like a gondola. It isn't all gone. It's just changed. More chain restaurants and hotels line the highway. A new Harley-Davidson store near one of the apartments I rented.
My favorite bar is gone. It was walking distance from where I lived the summer after I turned 21 and I spent many a lonely night chatting with the bartender and nursing my drinks before wandering back to my apartment. Good times.
Chances are I will never go back to Marquette. I'm hell and gone from Michigan now. If I go back, it'll be to visit family and they all live in the lower peninsula - an eight hour drive from my college stomping grounds.
But I guess I'll always be there in my memories. Where it doesn't seem so long ago that I was wandering the streets and freezing my ass off. And for a little part of me, it'll always be home.
Ah...the good ol' days. That were always good, but with the distance of time, the memories seem fond anyway. That's the way I feel about Colorado Springs. And it's changed so much, only the very fundamental landmarks remain. Time marches on. 🧐
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling. I've been in Texas for 15 years, but California still feels like home.
ReplyDeleteMemories of good places are lovely things to keep. :-)