Journal

A Christmas at Home

By Craig ⋅ December 31, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Amanda and I spent this Christmas with my parents  in Dayton. It was nice to see them and my sister’s family on the actual holiday, because we usually make it down on the weekend after. The fact that both Christmas and New Years gave give the gift of a long weekend this year is very nice.

It had been years since I drove around the city I grew up in. After college at UD I moved home for a while and worked downtown for a financial company before moving up to Cleveland. Armed with a necessary gps, I took Amanda on a few hour tour of the city, showing her what I always considered the highlights.

We drove through the ailing but still attractive downtown streets, seeing no other cars but police officers keeping the peace that Christmas day. The theaters were all still there, the square, some buildings I did and did not recognize. We drove through the Oregon District with it’s cobblestone streets and Victorian homes. Judging by the make of the cars in front of them that neighborhood is still a cool place to live for the well to do, if not brave residents who choose it. (I would.)

The University of Dayton was harder to navigate, as many of the through streets are no more. We drove down Brown and saw the build up that has happened around the beloved ghetto – our student housing neighborhood. I’m not sure it can be called that anymore.

Then up into Oakwood where I used to ride my motorcycle on nice days. Families were walking pedigreed dogs down hilly and windy old-money streets taking in the air and the scenery, just as we were from the comfort of our rental car. If you live and Dayton and have a deep bank account, this is where you want to live in my opinion. Not far through Far Hills past Arrow Wine where I worked as a college student, and by Dorthy Lane Market, which was our Whole Foods in Dayton before there was Whole Foods. (in the midwest at least)

The journey back was less eventful but we went all the way down Stroop to The Green – even Dayton, Ohio cannot escape the lure and grandeur of a high-end lifestyle center with stores and restaurants you wish you could always buy from and eat at.

I’ve been visiting the bubble of my parent’s house for so long without remembering the old haunts I occupied. Even the street names brought back floods of memories, though they showed up vague in my consciousness. I’m afraid I like them like that, the memories I have there – As if through frosted glass and not quite accessible. I’ve changed too much as a person to feel that everything I did or participated in was what I would love now. Everyone learns that lesson I think. Boy, would I do it differently if I had to do it again. But I’d rather not.

Tags: Christmas, Dayton