memory lane

Recently, while driving through Brampton, I recognized my old elementary school and asked Jordan to pull over so I could enter an address into the nav. Our destination...the house we moved into with my Aunt after returning from Saudi Arabia. In this tiny home dwelled my mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, Ottawa cousin, Winnipeg cousin and my amazing Grandmother. It is hard now for me to imagine 4 adults and 5 children living in this 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom townhouse but somehow we all fit and it never seemed crowded!

What you are looking at is a small cemetery at the end our street where we played until the streetlight came on and it was time to go home for dinner. I remember picking pine cones for crafts and playing hide and go seek amongst the tombstones. Playing in a cemetery seems a little creepy to me now but I never gave it a second thought then!

This is a picture I know my sister would soon forget. One day she took my 10 speed bike (which was much to big for her) and crashed into the wall of the underpass. She actually tore her gums from her jawbone, had terrible abrasions along her body and suffered internal injuries. On a happier note, we also used this underpass to get to our favourite store...Bi-Way! Here we stayed well stocked in jelly shoes and neon tops...this was the Cyndi Lauper and Madonna's material girl era after all! My Ottawa cousin and I spent a lot of time creating dance routines. This is us dressed for a backyard performance...

Visiting Lansing Square took me back to a very happy time in my childhood filled with memories of cabbage patch dolls, Grandma's broccoli/cauliflower stem snack, listening to mini pops albums, catching leeches with Winnipeg Cousin, mini golf at the Community Centre, sneaking off in the early morning for nature hikes (sorry we scared you Grandma) and dancing in the backyard. Seriously good times!!

To complete this trip down memory lane I thought I should also include a picture of my Grandmother Daisy and a Saudi family pic from a date farm in 1984. Uncle Mike looks pretty cute in those overalls!