Monday, May 09, 2005
The journey...jump to May 14-18, 2004
May 14, 04
I am reminded of the time I arrived in Alex, it seems so long ago, when I asked karim about the toilets in Egypt. I had heard that they were merely holes in the floor over which one squatted to do one's business, and I wasn't sure how I would handle this. I asked him if he could find a way to show me how to use it as I didn't want to find myself in an embarrassing situation. He laughed slightly and agreed, but stayed quiet. When we arrived at AboHemad and Angele's apartment, he led me into the bathroom and showed me the potty, sitting there like a grinning throne. He reached over and pulled the handle to flush it and asked if I would like further instruction on how to use it.
May 18, 2004
It is hard for me to picture some parts of home sometimes, and then, other times I imagine it too much. I go through Colville in my mind, walking up and down the main street with Karim, showing him first the "new" shopping centers out on the west side of town. (They are new to me because I haven't lived there for a long time). He can only equate them with Carrefour and their size and accessibility astound him. (Naturally he is curious about Wal-mart having heard so much about it, and notes the prices on everything he plans to come back to buy.) So, to Safeway, as I explain that it used to be on the other side of the parking lot facing east when I was 9, but they rebuilt it when I was in high school, expanding it and placing it northward facing. We continue past the bend in the road, cross the street past Safeway (3rd street, down which Mom lived in a lovely little white house that was tilted), to the small lot housing a photo lab and a hairdresser, followed by a travel agency. Across the next street, we come to EZ Knit, the fabric and craft store, a place, I explain, that I can spend lots of time and money in. On down the street we go past the Mexican Restaurant and the clothing stores past the new age cafe that used to be King Coles where Mom lost herself and her life changed forever. We pass the old drug store, Frank's pharmacy, now some other business, past the music store where I taught piano when I was 17, the pawn shop with the owner that is a racist, the health food store and the old Barman's building which has been a furniture store, a clothing store, and an antique store. We cross over to the clothing store where I opened my first charge account (but Dad payed it off), the newspaper office where Tera's mom used to be an editor before she died of a brain aneurysm when Tera was 16, and a series of antique stores where I can also spend a lot of time and money. Here is the City Centre building built on the spot of the old Colville Hotel building which was the AG Murphy's Restaurant where Mom worked but lost her job when it burned down. The car lot, Sprouse Reitz, the bowling alley all the way down to Excell and the gym where Dad goes every day.
We cross 395 and I show him the Burger King, Taco Johns and McDonald's where Dad goes every morning for coffee and where we order lunch. Up past the Angler Restaurant, gas station, bank, forest service building and the old pizza parlor that used to be Jay-Robs where Dad would take us two times a month for pizza and root beer and where I associate the pop group Blondie because of the juke box. We continue up the hill past the motel and travel agency, cross the street to Eggar Furniture and the jewelry store, then on to the Cherry tree where Mom bought all of her Hawaii clothes when she took money from grampa for her Hawaiian vacation. Hallmark, the office supply store, and Alpine theatre--our source of entertainment where I first saw "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" with Mom and John and we stayed for the second showing, getting in trouble with Dad because he needed the car for work and missed the only day of work my Dad ever missed. The sport store, the paint store, and the Goodwill, where many a Halloween costume was born; to the Branding Iron restaurant and next door to the grave stone engraver where Jackie's gravestone and B--'s Dad's gravestone were carved, then to the bar next door and the gas station. We cross 3rd again to Rural Resources which used to be the IGA store where a friend tried to shoplift and we got hauled to the police station. I point up the hill toward my old apartment on 10th and explain that up that hill is where Colin and I lived together when he was a baby...
Many things have changed in Colville from the account in my journal...my memory has preserved much of the town's geographical history, but unfortunately, our brief visit on our return to the States has not added anything new. I could not tell you, for instance, what the name of the furniture store that replaced Eggar's is, nor could I tell you what company has taken over the old Excell building. All I can say is that at least half of what I remember is still intact, and that means a lot to me. Perhaps, someday, my children will be able to "see" what Colville looked like in my day, and in this way further understand the person that Is their mother.
I am reminded of the time I arrived in Alex, it seems so long ago, when I asked karim about the toilets in Egypt. I had heard that they were merely holes in the floor over which one squatted to do one's business, and I wasn't sure how I would handle this. I asked him if he could find a way to show me how to use it as I didn't want to find myself in an embarrassing situation. He laughed slightly and agreed, but stayed quiet. When we arrived at AboHemad and Angele's apartment, he led me into the bathroom and showed me the potty, sitting there like a grinning throne. He reached over and pulled the handle to flush it and asked if I would like further instruction on how to use it.
May 18, 2004
It is hard for me to picture some parts of home sometimes, and then, other times I imagine it too much. I go through Colville in my mind, walking up and down the main street with Karim, showing him first the "new" shopping centers out on the west side of town. (They are new to me because I haven't lived there for a long time). He can only equate them with Carrefour and their size and accessibility astound him. (Naturally he is curious about Wal-mart having heard so much about it, and notes the prices on everything he plans to come back to buy.) So, to Safeway, as I explain that it used to be on the other side of the parking lot facing east when I was 9, but they rebuilt it when I was in high school, expanding it and placing it northward facing. We continue past the bend in the road, cross the street past Safeway (3rd street, down which Mom lived in a lovely little white house that was tilted), to the small lot housing a photo lab and a hairdresser, followed by a travel agency. Across the next street, we come to EZ Knit, the fabric and craft store, a place, I explain, that I can spend lots of time and money in. On down the street we go past the Mexican Restaurant and the clothing stores past the new age cafe that used to be King Coles where Mom lost herself and her life changed forever. We pass the old drug store, Frank's pharmacy, now some other business, past the music store where I taught piano when I was 17, the pawn shop with the owner that is a racist, the health food store and the old Barman's building which has been a furniture store, a clothing store, and an antique store. We cross over to the clothing store where I opened my first charge account (but Dad payed it off), the newspaper office where Tera's mom used to be an editor before she died of a brain aneurysm when Tera was 16, and a series of antique stores where I can also spend a lot of time and money. Here is the City Centre building built on the spot of the old Colville Hotel building which was the AG Murphy's Restaurant where Mom worked but lost her job when it burned down. The car lot, Sprouse Reitz, the bowling alley all the way down to Excell and the gym where Dad goes every day.
We cross 395 and I show him the Burger King, Taco Johns and McDonald's where Dad goes every morning for coffee and where we order lunch. Up past the Angler Restaurant, gas station, bank, forest service building and the old pizza parlor that used to be Jay-Robs where Dad would take us two times a month for pizza and root beer and where I associate the pop group Blondie because of the juke box. We continue up the hill past the motel and travel agency, cross the street to Eggar Furniture and the jewelry store, then on to the Cherry tree where Mom bought all of her Hawaii clothes when she took money from grampa for her Hawaiian vacation. Hallmark, the office supply store, and Alpine theatre--our source of entertainment where I first saw "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" with Mom and John and we stayed for the second showing, getting in trouble with Dad because he needed the car for work and missed the only day of work my Dad ever missed. The sport store, the paint store, and the Goodwill, where many a Halloween costume was born; to the Branding Iron restaurant and next door to the grave stone engraver where Jackie's gravestone and B--'s Dad's gravestone were carved, then to the bar next door and the gas station. We cross 3rd again to Rural Resources which used to be the IGA store where a friend tried to shoplift and we got hauled to the police station. I point up the hill toward my old apartment on 10th and explain that up that hill is where Colin and I lived together when he was a baby...
Many things have changed in Colville from the account in my journal...my memory has preserved much of the town's geographical history, but unfortunately, our brief visit on our return to the States has not added anything new. I could not tell you, for instance, what the name of the furniture store that replaced Eggar's is, nor could I tell you what company has taken over the old Excell building. All I can say is that at least half of what I remember is still intact, and that means a lot to me. Perhaps, someday, my children will be able to "see" what Colville looked like in my day, and in this way further understand the person that Is their mother.
