Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Long Ago and Far Away

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.

2 comments:

  1. 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. 🧐

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know the feeling. I've been in Texas for 15 years, but California still feels like home.

    Memories of good places are lovely things to keep. :-)

    ReplyDelete