Notes from Cleveland

It Rocks.

Day four here back in my hometown, sitting at the dining table at my cousin’s house with coffee and a slice of pecan pie.

I’m surrounded by the sounds of the dishwasher, washer and dryer, and my own music coming out of my laptop speakers. (Pet Shop Boys.)

Also surrounding me? Memories.

My aunt and uncle lived in this house for decades. They had a waterbed, a stereo music chair, a pool in the backyard. Their Christmas tree was different from everyone else’s, decorated with navy blue ribbons and blue and green lights. They liked to play board games and cards. They told ghost stories. I know what a Ouija board is because of them. Even their names were fun. Uncle Bob and Aunt Bobbi.

Aunt Bobbi passed away in January 2024, leaving the house to my cousin, Ryan. He’s worked so hard to fix it up and make it his own. Coats and coats of paint, new floors, bathroom renovations…and a comfortable guest bedroom for his cousin.

While cleaning up the house, Ryan found giant plastic bins filled with photo albums and three-ring binders. He and I have found treasure left buried in those bins. His mom gathered ancestry information and organized photos, documents, and research. We’ve flipped page after page, seeing photos we’ve never seen, learning things about our great-grandparents. We saw our grandmother as a flirty, twenty-something bathing beauty. We saw our own mothers as toddlers, cute as buttons.

Yesterday, Ryan and I drove west on Lake Road, but we might as well have taken the DeLorean back in time.

I pointed out the apartment building where Grandma lived when she left Grandpa (this was before Ryan made his appearance into the world). I found the first house my parents owned, where they lived when they had me. Not much has changed on that route west to our destination, Vermilion, where our grandparents lived and owned a small motel.

We parked the car in the historic downtown and walked a bit, seeing old storefronts that we recognized from our childhood, Lee’s Landing, Papa Joe’s, and the Old Prague restaurant. Still there! We spent a little time at the shore, seeing and hearing Lake Erie’s choppy waves come in, the soundtrack of spending time at our grandparents’ house.

A big bonus while here is being able to spend time not only with Ryan, but his son, and Ryan’s A+ girlfriend and her son too. His girlfriend’s birthday is tomorrow so it’s time to finish this post because we have some errands to run and more places to revisit.

Thanks again for reading! I care about you. Please don’t forget to eat your greens.