Comments on: Of taproots and home towns

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:51:25 +0000

Barrie, how fun! Thanks for blogging (and it was cool to meet you).

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:50:58 +0000

You know, Kari, I’ve never done it! My friend R and I keep saying we will, but now we need to do it. I’ve heard that it is a *misery* of a climb.

By: kari

kari — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:58:33 +0000

I’ve lived here in Co. Spgs for over 20 years and love our downtown. (I agree with a previous commenter…since Chinook is gone, we could use a Tattered Cover!) But I didn’t grow up here, so I don’t really get those nostalgic feelings that you expressed. And I left my hometown at too young an age to get those feelings there, either.

I have to say, though, that photo of the incline incites mixed feelings….initially pain a sense of breathlessness, but surprisingly that’s quickly followed by “It’s been a while…I need to get out there & climb that thing again!”

By: megamega

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By: Barrie Summy

Barrie Summy — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:58:17 +0000

I’m sorry to report that, no, I don’t have a place like that in my life. I definitely feel a connection to where I currently live, but I don’t think it’s at the same depth you’re describing. Anyway….I enjoyed your workshop in San Diego and blogged about it.

http://barriesummy.blogspot.com

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:19:02 +0000

I’ve been in California and returned to these fantastic posts. Thank you!

By: Tapsi

Tapsi — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:05:46 +0000

This is a fantastic post Barbara, taproots of a city and a life being intertwined – lovely.
I’ve lived in Delhi all my life. I wasn’t born here but my parents moved here when I was three and I have no recollection of living anywhere else. Many friends have moved away and lived and worked in other cities across the world, moved back even, but I’ve always been here. I’m 25, there are places for me to go yet, and I enjoy travelling tremendously, but I love living here. With all the pollution, and the traffic that drives me crazy, and the crime that makes me scared when driving at night, and the corrupt and insensitive cops, and a million other things – it’s still my city. I could never get lost here – if I lost my way, it would be momentary and then I’d hit a road I know intimately. I can still enjoy a brisk winter morning walking around my usual haunts, be it lush gardens, sleepy cemetaries, crowded markets, whatever suits my fancy. I loved the early morning drives I took to my 8 am class a lot last year – I would pass some of my favourite parts of town, and singing loudly, sometimes raucously, along with my ipod, I just took deep breaths and watched the city wake up. I like to think my destiny is intertwined with this city too, which is why you really touched a chord.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:04:41 +0000

I moved to Colorado Springs 5 1/2 years ago, I live downtown and I love it here. I was born and raised in Chicago and never thought I’d live anywhere else, but then I met my future husband and things changed. But I feel the same way about Chicago that Barbara feels about Colorado Springs. There’s a memory at every street corner and there are still buildings standing in my mind that aren’t there any more. It’s bittersweet for me to go back to Chicago because so much has changed there since I’ve been gone that my memories don’t match the reality, but it’s also so much fun to remminisce.

By the way, I’m very sad that Chinook isn’t here any more. I think we need to get the owner of Tattered Cover to open a branch downtown here.

By: Denise

Denise — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:26:27 +0000

Those pictures really make you appreciate livning in Colorado don’t they?

My parents moved about every five years when I was growing up so I don’t have so many memories in one city.

But next year will mark thirty years in one large town and I have tons of memories here. My youngest is a senior in high school this year and I’ve been feeling the sadness of “no more kids to chauffer around to activities, shopping, sports practices and games to watch” for several years now. Every block I go down has some little memory attached to it. (sigh) Some days you really wish you had a time machine.

But one thing I’m looking forward to is being able to go to the mountains to see the aspens change next Fall with no kids schedules to interfere (no soccer!). It’s been years since we done that. Maybe we’ll wander down to the Springs too.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:18:11 +0000

Lovely post, Barbara. I was at Colorado College for 4 years in the late 60′s but most of my time was spent on campus or in the mountains. Downtown trips were to either Chinook, the movie theater, or Giuseppe’s. Sad to think Chinook isn’t there now — for a long time my dream was to open a bookstore just like it in Steamboat Springs. But some of my most vivid memories of my time there are those brilliant fall days with the blue blue sky and the gold of the aspen. Thanks for giving me a tour of what the town is like now — I’d love to go back and spend some time.

I do feel that same connection to Palo Alto, CA — driving around and seeing the house where my sister and I grew up, the schools we went to, the places we went. I’ve been here almost all of my life, and while things have changed a lot, it’s still “my” town.