Home Again Home Again
I can’t drive through any part of my hometown of Hull (MA) without setting off a memory. They come, one right after the other, like text messages from the past dinging on my phone. That’s where my first boyfriend lived, and a girlfriend who had a really cool dollhouse lived in the house across the street. That’s where I learned to play pinball. I practiced CYO drill team in that field. I had my first Holy Communion in that church.
There’s the Yacht Club where I once won a bathing cap for doing the breast stroke in a swimming contest. I also lost a wristwatch that I got for my birthday on the same day. That’s the spot on the sluice way where I fell asleep while driving after seeing the movie Yellow Submarine in Boston. Luckily, my friend Christine shouted and woke me up just in time.
That building used to be a dentist’s office, and the Chinese restaurant where we ate after dancing at the Surf used to be there. There’s the bar where my dad sometimes drank when he fell off the wagon. It’s a realtor’s office now.
And that’s where the graveyard workers, who used binoculars to watch me and my sisters sunbathing in bikinis, put dead bodies over winter; at least that’s what we believed as kids.
Standing on the hill at Fort Revere has always felt like being on top of the world. From there I can see much of my childhood world, the place where our house was before it was taken by eminent domain to build a sewage plant, my elementary school, stony beach, the bay, the corner where we waited for the school bus, Boston Lighthouse, Allerton Hill and the old military station that we called the nike site long before nike sneakers existed. It’s an upscale condominium community now.
I’ve walked nearly every inch of the main street of Hull from Paragon Park to the Gut, and every part of the Village, where we ice skated in winter, bought candy at Mercurios Market and played on the playground swings in summer. That’s where I got stung by a yellow jacket and lost 80 cents of change when it fell out of my pocket. That’s where I yelled at my brother Danny for swearing while playing basketball with friends.
I had Danny’s friend Dicka in mind while I drove around Hull snapping shots. It wasn’t that long ago that he was snapping and posting Hull pictures on Facebook. He’s got cancer and his girlfriend raised some money on a crowd funding site for him to come home to Hull to see his family before starting chemo. I followed his trip home like a Hull groupie. Everyone who grew up in Hull in the ‘50s and 60s share many of the same memories and have bonds that are still strong.
I also took some pictures for my mom who is housebound now. She wanted to see what the neighbor’s house looked like since it was rebuilt after a fire and how the family grave site looked. She got a kick out the picture I took of the bride and groom who were brave enough to take wedding photos in the bitter cold on a windy A Street pier. “I’m just going down for the sunset and will be back in 15 minutes,” I told her, who used to take her own sunset pictures at the pier not that long ago. The gulls were dropping clams and catching them in mid-air.
I pull over a lot while driving in Hull. Yes, I’m sightseeing, I say to the driver behind me. It’s a bit like touring the twilight zone. Hull is the place of my childhood and the place of my ongoing dreams.
Coming soon: The Graffiti of Fort Revere, Hull Village
_____________Our World Tuesday
November 23rd, 2014 12:03 pm
Colleen, so glad you have the opportunity to be with your mom and family…it is always a wonder to visit this seaside town…and you are so right about the memories…many at every corner!
I would personally love to have a digital copy of the neighbor’s house that was rebuilt after a fire.
November 23rd, 2014 12:47 pm
What a wonderful post Colleen….The Memories of youth and the things that happened there in that sweet place—Lovely that you took all these pictures for your Mom….I wish her well—being in the House Bound Predicament, myself…..And there is “FASCINATION” once again…..What took place there, my dear? I hope it was a lot of fun things!
A lovely picture from the hill…..Your Seaside hometown…..Great that you could be there, once again.
November 23rd, 2014 1:45 pm
Echos Lady of the Hills. Every town, village and four corners has life, lives and memories. But not all have someone to put them into perspective as you just did. Good shtufffs.
BTW…those four lines
what does it mean
if I said to you
while entangled in a lucent moment in past-tense
“can we paint a black crow white again”
November 23rd, 2014 2:08 pm
“You can’t go home again.” because that home has moved on. But the memories are always yours.
November 23rd, 2014 3:30 pm
Loved looking at your pictures Colleen it looks an amazing place! Love Linda x
November 23rd, 2014 7:09 pm
Beautiful, beautiful shots!
November 23rd, 2014 10:08 pm
Picture is sent, Stuart. Naomi, Fascination is a remnant of Paragon Park, Hull’s amusement park. I think they gambled in there or played a game.
Calvin, Paint a black crow white again: Can we go home? Yes, but it would take a lot of paint to make a black crow white again and I think it would be a “cover-up.”
November 23rd, 2014 11:53 pm
LOVE
November 24th, 2014 8:58 am
Wonderful memories and so precious. Wings and roots, glad and sad.
November 24th, 2014 6:49 pm
An amazing series of photos! The sunset is wonderful!
November 24th, 2014 11:09 pm
so many wonderful memories. Isn’t it wonderful you can always go back home.
November 25th, 2014 12:06 am
Apparently you CAN go home again and do a beautiful job of it! Excellent job.
November 25th, 2014 12:37 am
These are wonderful memories, so glad you penned them and brought them to life again. Absolutely terrific pics.
November 25th, 2014 12:59 am
Such a pretty town!
November 25th, 2014 3:27 pm
Thanks for sharing your memories with us…
November 25th, 2014 7:12 pm
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November 26th, 2014 7:26 am
Oh the memories.
Practicing our CYO drill team routines was such a happy time. A kids social life that was far better than computer games and cell phones.
I won a diving contest at the Hull Yacht Club. I did it because Paul Marcella was watching.
Standing on the hill at Fort Revere did feel like the top of the world but going up to the tower, which is now closed off, to smoke stolen cigarettes (from dad’s Pall Malls) was even better.
Oh the memories. Thanks for bringing them to mind again.
November 26th, 2014 7:27 pm
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November 29th, 2014 10:45 am
[…] have a chance to see the Lego sculpture show in Faneuil Marketplace in Boston while recently visiting my family in Hull (22 miles south of Boston), but I did see some striking graffiti art in the old forts by […]