The Old And The New

This past week I went to Boston. I hadn’t been in years and I certainly don’t remember much of that trip so I wanted to go again. I wanted to see the city that was a city before there was even a country. I wanted to see the places where the book I’m reading takes place. I wanted to imagine what it would’ve looked like 200 years ago. But as it turns out, I didn’t have to imagine too hard.

We got there and there was this instant sense of history. We walked up the stairs from the train to find old brick buildings surrounding us. Later we would discover we were mere feet away from the site of the Boston Massacre. We would explore the Quincy Market where, though the shops are new and food more...imaginative than it may have been in the 1800’s, it still had that marketplace feel. We would walk the Freedom Trail and see old churches, state buildings, cemeteries, Paul Revere's House, and the church where he hung the lanterns warning the people the British were coming. The alleys between the brick buildings were almost too tight for a car, some turned into walking paths in the older part of town. It wasn't hard to imagine a time when walking or a horse drawn carriage were the main forms of transportation. No need for wide roads for that.

Then there was the U.S.S Constitution. Though the majority of the ship had been refurbished so it wouldn’t sink (it was 200 years old after all), it still was cool to see this beautiful sailing ship sitting among the newer construction. Oh how I wanted to climb up into that rigging! I wanted to sit up as far as I could go and look down on the city below, imagining what it might have been like to sail into the harbor.

Not everything was just as it was 200 years ago though. Boston Commons, where the original purpose was to give the cattle grass to eat, now serves as a park for visitors and residents. I looked up to see an old church steeple standing out against a new glass skyscraper. The aquarium now takes the place of the docks where the ships would find rest. Yachts, speedboats, and fancy sailboats now replace the frigates, brigantines, and schooners. But the ocean is still the same, the brick buildings still line the streets, and the history survives. The old mixes with the new to create a flourishing city both functional and proud of its history. As it should be, seeming as it was one of the first cities in this beautiful country.

As a country, as humans, we have become so used to just throwing something out or tearing it down when it's old. Doesn't matter if it still works, it's so last season, it goes away. I couldn't tell you how many times I’ve watched an old pharmacy get torn down just to build a brand new one in its place. What a waste! When Boston needed stations for their underground trains did they tear down all the historical brick buildings to "make room for progress"? No. That brick building we saw that was the site of the Boston Massacre was actually cleverly disguising a train station. Sure, the Quincy Market building was redone on the inside to be up to code I’m sure, but the outside was as beautifully old as ever. The old cobblestone streets still intact where possible, the old churches still in use, the old state building turned into a fancy restaurant.

You don't have to tear something down to make room for "progress" you just have to use your imagination and make what’s old new again. That's how we should progress. That's how to preserve this country’s history while still making room for all the new shiny things. It will be a very sad day when we realize that all that’s left of our history is a meaningless plaque marking a spot that no longer has anything to do with what it is supposedly marking. Boston did it right. I think it's time for the rest of us to follow their example.

Up In Steam

Driving along, on our way to our family reunion. Little did we know everything was about to go very wrong. We had just crossed the border into Pennsylvania when we start hearing this clicking sound. Then Dad realizes the heat gauge is indicating that the van is too hot. Next thing we know we're pulled over to the side of the road, van stalled, steam pouring out of the hood. Well it just kept getting worse from there. We managed to cool it off enough to roll down the road, but every gas station Google claimed was there was not. We finally rolled into a little gas station where the van stalled again and started letting off more steam. The man there directed us to another mechanic where the same thing happened. Rolled in stalled and steaming.

It felt like we were sent back in time to 1985 or something. Old town, roller skating rink up the hill, old sandwich shop on the corner. It was bizarre. We went and found some food while he looked at the van. Thankfully he was able to fit us in and felt bad for us. I was very excited to find a rig pop at the sandwich place. Pretending everything was going to get better. It did not.

We came back to bad news. it wasn't going to be easy and it wasn’t going to be cheap. And it certainly wasn’t going to be quick seeming as it was a Friday afternoon. So what to do? Ideally we would be able to get the van back to our mechanic where we would hopefully be able to either fix it or at least get more than what we would get selling it for scrap there. The other issue was we were exactly halfway between where we came from and where we were going. So go home or go to the reunion? We wanted to go to the reunion. But how to get there?

Rental cars were virtually nonexistent. And none of them let us pick them up there and drop them off at home. We had to get home eventually somehow. After hours on the phone we finally found a rental car. The last one in the area, but it wasn’t going to fit all our stuff. So... camping gear left behind in Pennsylvania we took off to Maryland.

Thankfully we were able to find places to sleep even though we weren't camping like we originally planned. We had a good weekend, but what to do come Sunday? Our van is still in Pennsylvania with half our stuff. Locked in the mechanics shop. And the rental car still needs to go back 3 hours from home to where we got it from.

We got home and mom had to turn around and leave again on Monday. We got the van towed back across the border at least and mom was able to find a ride home from the rental car place. We now have a new car and are making plans about what to do with the van. It all turned out ok in the end. Not like we may have hoped. But sometimes that’s just what happens.

Sometimes your plans go up in smoke, or steam as the case may be, but you need to make the best of it, keep pushing forward, sooner or later things will fall into place and cool down. We had fun at the reunion and we were able to get the van back to New York, mom found a way to get home from Pennsylvania without a car, and we were able to find a new car in a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes things don’t go as planned, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the best of it. But I, for one, will not be going back to Pennsylvania any time soon.

Braids: An Appreciation Post

As some of you know, if you know me personally that is, I have braided my hair for the summer. Well… Not the whole summer… Only four weeks. Four blissful weeks of my hair in over fifty little braids. I had first done it when I went to the island a year or so ago. I figured I’d fit right in with all the tourists and, at the very least, it would keep the ladies on the beach from nagging me to let them braid it for me. But I would quickly find out that these braids are a lifesaver when it comes to the heat. So, up into braids my hair goes for the summer. And I am so glad I did! Not only am I able to leave them down and not have all the little strands make me overheat, I’m also able to put it up and have it stay there! My hair is so soft and thin that I couldn’t put it up in a high ponytail or a bun without it falling out in a matter of hours. Unless I put dozens of bobby pins in to hold it that is. But not with my braids! A couple ponytail holders and I had a bun in my hair all day long! Through three jobs, one of them being in a pool, and it still looked good enough to go out after work!

On a normal day, especially one when it’s really hot, it can take hours for me to do something with my hair to keep me from overheating AND that will stay in throughout the day. So having my hair in braids has literally given me like half an hour more sleep every morning. And man I don’t know what I would do without that! I will have to take my braids out at the end of the week unfortunately. But it was fun. For a girl who can’t cut her hair for fear of it not growing back fast enough, these braids were a fun way to give me something different for a change.

I have had a few people think it was strange that I decided to put my hair in braids this summer. And I totally expected that. But that’s ok. I’m strange and I’m ok with that. The benefits far outweighed the consequences. I will certainly be braiding my hair again in the future, but I’ll go back to my regular hair for a while first.