This is the house we used to live in, this is the place we used to know.
My childhood home was a place I call 308, a Cape Cod in Syracuse's Northern suburbs. It was built in the early '50s, and its only owners have been members of my family. My aunt and uncle originally secured 308 on behalf of my mom and dad, who purchased it in short order. My sister bought 308 when my dad died in 2012. My sister lives in England, and she kept the house for our mom. Mom continued to live there until it became impossible for her to do so anymore; she moved to a nursing facility in 2017. My daughter and her boyfriend (now fiancé) lived at 308 for a few years before buying their own house last year.
Mom passed at the end of 2021. There is no longer any good reason to hold on to 308.
And so we've emptied 308 of its accumulated artifacts. My siblings and I have kept a few scattered mementos; the rest has been assigned as either donations or discards, and relocated accordingly. There is still a bit more that needs to be done, but very soon a new family--someone I have never met--will take our keys and make 308 their home. 308 will still be there.
It will no longer be ours.
I wanna begin this week's show with a note of passage, a farewell to a place that meant the world to me. It's a house in North Syracuse, a house I call 308. It was my parents' house, the house where I (in theory) grew up, and it remained a part of my life for all the decades since. I helped look after 308 throughout all the transitions this mortal life brings. And now, there's one last transition, as for the first time since it was built more than 70 years ago, 308 will be owned by someone other than my family.
And that's okay. It's time. And it is finally time for me to say goodbye, and thank you, to 308, the house we used to live in.
And the Smithereens sing their mournful farewell, "House We Used To Live In."
This week's opening was one of the relatively few times I've felt a need to write out a script rather than speak off the cuff. Transitions can sting, even when they're a good thing, even when they're a necessary thing. I'll keep my memories of 308 for as long as I retain memories.
But it's time to let go of the rest of it.
Here's to the house I used to live in. Here's to 308. And here's to whatever comes next. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
This week's show is available as a podcast.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, on the web at westcottradio.org and via the TuneIn Radio and Radio Garden apps as Westcott Radio.
REMINDER! You can help our friend (and Radio Deer Camp host) Rich Firestone, and we hope you will: Support Rich's Transition To Disabled Living. And we thanks ya!
You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO).
TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS are always welcome.
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/
THE DIXIE CUPS: Iko Iko (Varese Sarabande, The Complete Red Bird Recordings)
No comments:
Post a Comment