The Old Neighborhood

 

We had an errand to run into the city last week and I took a trip down memory lane.
With traffic backed up on Irving Park Road, we took a side street
and ended up at my Alma mater, Alvernia High School.
I had to get out of the car to take a couple of photos.

 

This is the very same courtyard, photo taken from my yearbook
back in 1973.

 

It is now a Chicago Public School.

 

Back in the day it was an all girls Catholic High School.
We wore scratchy woolen uniforms.  We could not have a boy pick us up from school...
As if, only our friend Sue had a boyfriend through HS.  The
rest of our close knit group obsessed about boys...
Planned our route home in hopes of seeing some
Gordon High School boys!
( I did snag a Gordon boy...my dearest, but not until a year after graduation.)
 

I spent most of my high school years on the 4th floor.  That was where the glee club met,
and the art studio was located.  I also spent a semester in supervised study.
Spending a "mod" in supervised study was supposed to help raise your grade, in my case,
algebra.  It did no such thing.  The great part about being on the fourth floor was
the view of my neighborhood.  It was the highest vantage point I had ever experienced.
My mind would wander as I sat and looked out that window.
I vividly remember a ice storm,
and how the trees sparkled, and made everything
look magical.
My memories of high school are so sweet.  Since I never went to college,
but right to work after graduation...it is were I learned the most,
and became who I am.
(I still have no math skills, but love art and music.)

 

This is our old homestead.  Our first house.
Funny that my kids are so much more sentimental
about it than I am. 
We moved when I was in eight grade,
a hard time to move...but the friends I made
that first year, are still my friends today.
When honey and I got married, we moved in right across the street.
I could not imagine being away from my Mom.
When we lost Mom and Dad was alone, we moved in.
It's the house my kids grew up in.
It's for sale!
Everyone of my kids would love to live there again.

 

 

Just around the corner, is our Parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary.  It's where were were married, all our kids were baptised.  The school is now a public school, but still has the Blessed Mother out front.  I used to decorate his statue for May Crowning each year.

The city has gone through many changes, but will always be the place where I started...where I fell in love
and where ultimately my roots lie. It's strange to see the changes that have taken place in the years we've lived in the burbs.  I personally would never go back, but appreciate how my kids feel about the city still.
I asked my hubby if there would ever be reason to go back to the city to live.  He said maybe to buy a three flat, so that we could live with the kids, then counted again and decided we would need an apartment building to hold our family.  That's where we both started, in apartments.  We know the luxury of having our own home, our 1/4 acre.  It's a dream fulfilled.  Grateful, especially on a cold cold day as this.

Starting to feel better, just in time for the below zero weather we will experience for the next couple of days.
A perfect time to take down the tree and start getting things in order around here.

Thanks for stopping by.  Stay warm and enjoy this beautiful day!