Oh ya, the event that got me moving on this....

Well, for what seems like forever, (but is probably closer to 4 or 5 years), I have been hearing and reading the stories about how they wanted to knock down that building at 700 Toronto Ave that was the epicenter of all things in my younger years, Arlington Elementary School. It was more than a school to me, with all that that entails, learning, discovering, a place where all of my friends were, it was literally my neighbor.

The block that Arlington was on dominated the view from our house, and depending on where you were seated in our living room, you had a clear view of the building itself. We climbed the crab apple trees in between the street and the teachers parking lot, we weaved between the parking bumpers on our bikes (or skateboards, the old style, with the slow, metal wheeels) we played baseball on the lawn, we shot buckets on the playground, we practiced our tennis serve and bounced superballs against the building, (could we slam one hard enough on the ground to make it land on the roof? No, but we sure tried!) We rode our bikes what must have been 500 miles a summer on the whole school block, and we hid in the bushes by the corner of the building as we played hide and seek.

Well, that 3 story giant (4 if you count the basement that was only half in the ground) is going to be knocked down this summer I hear, I got the word that that was officially gonna happen late last week from my sister, who spent her lunch hour there that week taking one last tour with Russ, the janitor there for many years giving the tour. A few years ago Russ took me through there too, when I was up in Toledo on leave, it was good to walk those old halls again. So many memories came back. But I am sure I will elaborate more on those in later posts.

I'm going to miss you my old friend, you helped me become the person I am, and you gave me a safe place to grow up.