Some Things . . .

The other day Sharon came by to visit our illustrious little dead-end street. Our next-door neighbor Ron had met her at a party, and she had, they came to discover, grown up in the downstairs apartment of his very house.
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Ron invited her over.

And Sharon brought photos. From the mid 1950s.
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Allan, her soon-to-be-husband, used to come a-courting to her parents' place, and when he did, he'd drive his car over and park right in front of our house.

It's really cool to check out the contrast between then and now.

Our house still looks strikingly the same. And Billy and I, clearly, look strikingly like Sharon and Allan. Our rigs, however, are very different. That car looks nothing like the Westy.

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Sharon told us all kinds of stories about the old days. About the Andersons, the couple who lived in our house, she reported, “He was a drunk and she was crazy.” “Perfect!” I replied. “Some things never change.”

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Allan's photo sometimes got taken in front of Cara and Vere's, our two-doors-down neighbors.

That house on the far left.

Oh, how the man loved his car.
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The best photo, though, was the one of Sharon and her best friend Elizabeth in front of Sharon's house. Which is now Ron's house. The middle house.

And just like that, 50 years later, Elizabeth and Sharon were right back in front of it, right back where they belong. They were best friends then, and Elizabeth spent lots of time here in the 'hood. By all accounts, they were mischievous.

By all accounts, they still are. Some things never change.

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Sharon said they used to hang out on the front porch, and watch for action on the dead-end street, and check out every person who drove or walked down.

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Some things never change.

We're going to take a photo of Keri and Andrea in front of their place – the downstairs apartment, where Sharon lived – 50 years from now. Me, I'll still be sitting on their porch.

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Some things never change.

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Sharon's husband Allan died young: he was 49. But he cut quite a figure in those old photos. He looked so handsome and so full of promise and so young.
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And, he was a snappy dresser. Wait a minute, is that a white suit? Or, wait, a yellow suit? Hmmm. Where have I seen a suit like that before???

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Some things never change.