Day 107~ Home

As part of my 35 Things While 35, I wanted to photograph my childhood hometown.

I thought I could click-click-click and capture all of those important images that are burned into my memory.

I was wrong!

In fact, it's becoming such an emotional journey, that I will stretch it out over the next several visits home.

These are all that remain of the Gulf, and later BP, sign that lit the night sky in our once sleepy little town.

My grandpa owned this station, and later my dad and uncle took over.

But as with all things, time passes and things change.

New regulations forced small business owners to either make expensive upgrades or close down.

We were the later. This bar once covered the locks. Paw Paw's motto was "We may doze, but we never close."

He chewed out more than one employee for having the audacity to even so much as close that door... even in the winter. When if the truth be told, it wasn't for the sake of audacity. It was for sheer warmth.

Now locks are the norm. I loved this cash register as a child.
Knowing the special way to work the lever and twist the handle in order to make the drawers pop open and chime made me feel so proud. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen with it's brown patina, until a well-meaning employee decided to 'clean it up'.

To be such a priss now, most people would never believe that my hands are capable of hooking up to a chassis, working these levers, winding the winch, and loading a car on the rollback. Though Dad meant for us to behave as ladies, time spent with him meant learning what he doing at the time.

And though I felt choked up the whole time I hid behind my lens remembering how much I loved this place, and although it breaks my heart to see it so empty and dead, my spirit soared to see these two help an elderly man who pulled in with a flat tire.

It was as if I could feel a little of the life that Central Garage once breathed!