In recent weeks, I’ve been resisting the urge to get a pickup truck. And after spending 15 minutes watching a stranger’s dog (Hank, below) fetch a stick in a cold lake, I’m now resisting the urge to get a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.
Note: My CBR envy waned considerably when I saw Hank’s owner put the wet and stinky pooch in the backseat of her car.
Though my high school experience was a mixed bag, I’m struck by a nostalgic sense of loss every time I pass by the demolition site seen below. Day by day, Wheaton Central High School — an institution that educated the likes of Edwin Hubble, Red Grange, Bob Woodward, John Belushi, and, much further down the list, me — is being pounded by a wrecking ball, a process slowed by the presence of asbestos that needs to be hosed down and carefully removed.
And what will take the place of the school? A gourmet grocery store, naturally.
When I was a tike, I often romped at Northside Park in Wheaton, which is why it’s particularly special that I’m now able to take Isla there. Last weekend, she wandered over to the park’s baseball diamond and stood upon the pitcher’s mound. I expected — even hoped — that she’d then pretend to throw a pitch toward home plate. Instead, she turned the tomboy level up a notch, howling like a wolf for a minute or so before falling to her knees and exuberantly playing with dirt.
A friend recently reminded me that, when Isla was a newborn, I’d commented that I didn’t want a delicate, princess-obsessed daughter. And this is very much true. I’m thrilled to have a rough-and-tumble kiddo.
I don’t think of myself as being overly nostalgic, and I’m not a big fan of caged animals, but I nonetheless enjoyed spending a recent afternoon at Cosley Zoo, a place I visited countless times as a child growing up in Wheaton, IL. Looking at the smile below, it’s obvious my daughter also enjoyed our trip to the zoo.
