My folks grew up in the Boston area. I have never lived there. But each time I visit, I feel my roots. Not enough to want to live there, but a part of me is there. One of my grandfathers was the asisstant postmaster in Everett. My mom worked for 10 years at Hood's. The smokestack is probably about all that remains from her time there in the 1945-55 timeframe. Looking out from our hotel window, we faced north toward Everett. We could see Fenway Park and were in the cluster of buildings around the Prudential Center. I actually stayed at that hotel a few years ago while attending a Mortgage Originator Magazine seminar.
My other grandfather worked for many years as a tool and die maker at the Waltham Watch factory. He lived in nearby Newton. He did move to Vermont for about 3 years in the early 1950s and ran a small store about 25 miles from here in Craftsbury, Vermont, with my grandmother. He returned to the factory in 1953.
My uncle, my dad's brother, went to Boston University and remained in the area until the early 1970s. Many of my early travelling memories are to my grandparents' homes and to visit my uncle & aunt in the Boston area. Nobody is in the area today. So my infrequent visits only spark some vague memories of things I might have seen as a kid. Of course, there are some vivid memories as well. My first visit to Fenway Park and seeing Mickey Mantle hit 2 home runs in a 5-3 loss to the Red Sox in 1966, for example. Walking to the neighborhood store in Everett to buy a couple of packs of baseball cards at a nickel a pop. And the time spent at houses in Newton and Everett. My grandparents are buried there. So, I may go back there again. It isn't the same of course, but nothing ever is.
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