Home Again

 

Thomas Wolfe wrote: You Can’t Go Home Again. You can't truly go back to a place you once lived because so much will have changed since you left. It is not the same place anymore. Memories that live with you (in the present) you share with people and places may forever be a part of you and full of emotions, however.

My brother Dan convinced me to come to an all-school reunion of St. Luke School in the west side Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio. I attended grades 1-8 at Saint Luke Catholic School. I know it shaped me in many ways into the adult I am today.

Planning for this visit got sweeter and sweeter as the date approached. My birthday on May 20 would feature diner at the Pier W restaurant overlooking Lake Erie with Dan and a very special guest (Janie).  Dan would indulge my art museum obsession with a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art where they were featuring an exhibition of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966). I had to find a few of my favorite paintings including Stag at Sharkeys by George Wesley Bellows.

The reunion kicked off with a 4:30 Mass at St. Luke followed by an all class reunion in the gym next door. No surprise, classmates from Catholic families often had a sibling present or accounted for as an update force multiplier. Sheila couldn't be here but her sister wanted to make sure to say hello. John was going to fly in from California but he tested positive with Covid-19. He’s fine, reports his brother Danny. Carol still has those electric blue eyes and becomes a magnet for our 8^th grade graduation class of 1970. Greg was on Face Time on the cell phone of which Wes scanned to gym. You missed Mary but her brother Jack is right over there. And Mary Sue (Soupy) had to leave early to tend to her mom. Brennan’s Catered the event and there was ample access to the open bar. It took a few minutes and some microphone adjusting to read the numbers of the winning raffle tickets. The silent auction featured some bargains ranging from a big screen TV to a wine gift basket from Rosie's Wine House.

Dan can’t resist the family tradition of being tour guide that helps you understand where the Detroit theater “used to be” and what new restaurants are worth trying. A wave to the guard house at the Cleveland Yacht Club “turn around” and a lovely drive through the valley metro-park system where picnic spots abound and where there are three municipal golf course options.

It hasn’t been home since my parents sold the house I grew up in on Edgewater Drive in 1985. But the warmth and vitality of  Cleveland (The Land) prevails and prospers. Lake Erie and the Cleveland skyline views from the Winton Place and Pier W are just what the doctor ordered as I wallow in reflection and consider Robert Frost words…I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

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