My fourth year of college, for Valentine’s Day, I was super surprised when I got a delivery. My fraternity was doing one of those fundraisers where you can send a flower and bear in a cute little package to anyone on campus. When one of them came to me, I was sooo confused. Who in the world would have gotten me something for Valentine’s? I didn’t have a boyfriend or even anyone I was seeing. Baffled, I took to the web and eventually got a message from a random friend who just thought it’d be nice to send me something, so he bought one for me to support the fundraiser. How sweet is that? Then when I was in the UK, I joined LoveSoc, a club that some students put together where they’d prompt you to do random acts of kindness, like giving hugs or leaving change. It’s those little surprises that can be so wonderful, especially when they’re completely out of the blue. I really should do more of those. As a kid I was very generous – probably even too generous – and I miss those days of bringing a smile to people’s faces. It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.
365great Day 248: random acts of kindness
Return to New York: Walk Down Memory Lane
I thought I could summarize all of our long weekend activities from last weekend into one post, but as it turns out, there are 77 pictures I want to share, so I’m splitting them up into two posts. First off will be the day we spent revisiting my old stomping grounds and faded memories in the areas of Westchester and Brewster. The rest will come in another post! Now, join me as I go down memory lane…
A perfect start to our trip!
This reminds me of the time my friend yelled HEY while driving… what she meant was HAY (on a truck), lol.
I’d like a side of gas station with my tobacco outlet please.
Crossing over…
A quick pit stop at a ginormous Whole Foods leads us to these yummy apple samples.
We totally pigged out on the chips and guac alongside some employees. It had quite a kick!
I was sooo excted when I saw marinated mushrooms, but after buying them and trying them, I found they weren’t the taste I was looking for.
I *almost* bought one of these, but I’m holding off til we move.
What a fun basket cart you can wheel around!!
Such pretty colors. I’d love to hop in one and explore a river.
I’d forgotten what it was like to drive on roads like these.
The first memory we revisited: Westchester Community College, where I had Chinese school on Sundays. I still remember the parking lot area!
And that’s the building where I learned many years of Chinese and took a cartooning class, a paper cutting class, an oil pastel class, and more…
Whoa, check out that super modern Wendy’s!
IT’S MY TOWN!!!
Good old train station where we’d pick up my dad after work.
Aww, my old house! We were the first tenants; I wonder how many have lived there since.
I took a quick peek at the house where I used to babysit a family of 5 kids. The only family I’ve ever babysat for!
Our neighborhood is up on a STEEP hill. I don’t know if you can tell but take a look at the person walking up. Great views from here!
Hello, middle school. This is where I learned how to make tweeties, played full-contact basketball with the guys, and went to some awkward dances.
Across the street from the middle school is the deli that I remember so fondly.
They still have my fav sandwich, the Pesature, which I liked mostly because I knew the people it was named after.
I love this place because of the deviled eggs. I’ve never been able to find ones that I like better.
So of course, I had to stock up on those eggs! The nice lady threw in two for free when I got half a dozen. NOMMMMM
Such a pretty sunset out here.
My old high school, which did not have the left half when I moved away. Too bad I couldn’t see the old part, where I knew everyone in my graduating class (and many in other grade levels too), took way too many classes at once, learned of 9/11 (and got sent home), and always had snacks to share with friends.
I watched Fiddler on the Roof when I was a sophomore and it was cool to find the poster up, albeit at the far end of the hall where it might get phased out in a few years. I still recognize many people in the pictures!
If only I’d stayed to graduate from this school, I might just have made it on this poster.
It was a brief visit, but good to see my old school. Go Bears!
Tuned in to my radio station from back in the day. Over a decade later and I still like what they play.
I only vaguely remembered Stew Leonard’s and I really wanted to show Panda the singing cows.
It’s massive inside and like an IKEA, where you follow a single path winding through the store. Tons of electronic animals will sing to you as you pass by or press a button.
It’s such a homey feel in here.
As we were leaving, I caught a glimpse of Christmas trees that were hidden away in a tent. I just had to investigate!
There were so many memories that came back to me, like that pizza place we JROTC kids used to walk to and the trek from the middle school to the high school for track practice and the peacock farm near the high school and the hidden trail that we’d run on for gym sometimes and the few driving lessons I took (including the awful mistakes I made) and riding my bike into town and volunteering at the library that was practically smaller than my house and hanging out with the guys from the group home and all my crazy nicknames (like China White, which I’d completely forgotten) and so much more… coming back after getting a better sense of where things are on a map really helped me with my scattered memories. I was able to piece a lot back together and I had a ton of random stories to share. It was a fabulous time!
