Thoughts from Places - Day Seven: The Lone Prairie

When I was really young, my family would drive out to Winnipeg, Manitoba.  My maternal Great Grandmother lived there.  She was a school teacher in a "one room" school house.  She passed away when she was 96.

I have several clear memories of the house.  I remember the layout; the only bedroom adjacent to the living room.  The kitchen was a hallway that attached the living room to the dinning room.  And of course the oddly smelling basement which I was terrified of.

I wanted to try and find the house as we drove through Winnipeg.  The landmark that I was looking for was a large statue of a white horse.  That horse always indicated we were almost at great grandma's house.  We found that horse.

We drove down the road toward her old house.  So much has changed in the two decades since I have been here last.  My mother told me what drive way to look out for.  Nothing looked familiar.

Now I don't know if this was a good thing or not.  My mom had always been on the side of never going back to old houses.  She wants the memories of that house to remain as she remembers them.  She does not want to see what other people have done to it.

I totally get that.  I have no interest in going back to my old house.  On the other hand I do get some joy from seeing how someone else has taken a home that we loved and shared as a family, and changed it into something that they love and share with their family.

This was a day for reflection.  We set up our tent (our mobile home as it were) in Whiteshell provincial park in Manitoba.

Tomorrow, Ontario.

Kevin and Helen