I used to spend at least a week during the summer with my Nanny and PawPaw in LaGrange Ga. It’s a quaint little town positioned on the Alabama-Georgia boarder. I’d spend my days delivering newspapers and running through the woods that lead to the backwaters. (A series over lakes and rivers that separate the two states.)
I’d fish with everything from a cane pole to 1 gallon jugs with a string on the end. I’d eat as many blackberries as I could pick all day long. And at the end of the day… We would go down to “Mr. Boggs” a convenient store and buy Now&Laters candy!
I loved that house my grandparents lived in. I loved that old run down convenient store. I hoped that those two monuments of my childhood would have always remained. But both have been demolished and bigger and better things have taken their place.
There was also a ice cream place in my hometown of Phenix City, AL. called the Dairy Dream! It was my absolute favorite ice cream. The chocolate milkshakes were rich and thick. You’d literally have to eat it with a spoon because trying to suck it through a straw would cause an aneurysm.
That place… It’s now a tattoo parlor.
- Tyler’s chicken biscuits… Gone
- The building I was in when I first met Tiffany… Gone
- My favorite little restaurant in Fairhope, AL… Gone.
- The condo we vacationed in for the first several years of marriage… Gone.
And on and on and on…
At first sight… This all seems and sounds depressing. A lot of the places I remember from my childhood are gone. Even many places I’ve made incredible memories at within the past 5 years are now gone.
And I’m sure you have numerous stories like mine. Places that defined your childhood. You made incredible memories there. And you thought they would be around forever. But they’re now gone.
I had to come to this realization…
The world is not a museum of my past experiences!
As much as I would like to keep everything in this world just as I remember it… I can’t. Nor should I expect it to stay the same. Life moves on. Places change. People change.
Change is inividable. It’s the one thing that has to happen for society to move forward. And sure it’s uncomfortable… But it’s necessary.
Change doesn’t erase your memories.
Our memories are the special things we hold on to… Not buildings or houses. Our memories are conversation starters and relationship builders. And it’s our memories and stories that no change will ever be able to take away.
Once I understood this concept… I began to embrace all change. Things simply can’t remain the same. And that’s ok. Because with change comes new memories, moments, and stories.
Will my daughters ever experience Mr. Boggs store… Nope. Will they drink a Dairy Queen milkshake or eat a Tyler’s chicken biscuit… Never. But will they hear about it until the day I die? You bet! And I’m simply ok with that!
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