I Went 'Home'

This is a week when so many people will return to their childhood homes. As a child I moved a number of times, Minnesota to Holland to Minnesota to Lexington to Connecticut; we were a corporate family that followed the job and back in the day when the job was one for a lifetime.

The house that I remember living in the longest was our house in Lexington. We lived there from 1972 to 1980. My brother, eight years my senior, probably remembers the house where I was born in Bloomington, Minn., as the house our family shared the longest. My sister is probably torn between the house on the lake in Minnesota and the Lexington house; for her the length of time was the same. While the experiences we shared as a family were enriching, when my own family started I made a conscious choice to have my children grow up in the same place, from beginning to adulthood.

For 21 years and two months I have called North Andover home; it is the place I have lived the longest and the place I hold the dearest! It is the place that I have decided to call home. I rarely leave the area; however, prompted by a friend from work, who was dangling an amazing place to buy spices, I decided to go on a journey to Arlington.  I had a day, finally free from the things that tend to bog me down, and I decided that it was time to make my way back to my old neighborhood, to visit Penzeys Spices on Mass Ave in Arlington.

Driving down Route 128, I decided to take the exit off the highway by the Burlington Mall and take the back roads into Lexington on the way to Arlington. As soon as I hit the exit I was assaulted by nostalgia; it was overwhelming! I began to notice changes as soon as I got to the light; Petco and Trader Joes weren't here the last time I went to this Burger King; a haunting memory indeed. The road leading into Lexington didn't seem to have changed all that much, though I could see through the wood line the bike path I've heard so much about. As I pulled up to the common I remembered the years we got up at 5 a.m. to go see the reenactment on the "green".  Across from me was the church where I volunteered as a teenager on the hotline, Replace. Driving down Mass Ave I looked for the old Brigham's where I got my first waitressing job, the only qualification being willing to wear the skimpy outfit that the owner wanted his "girls" to wear; it's a Bertucci's now.

I continued on until I got to Locust Street, the first place I drove a car and the street that one of my dearest friends lived on. Up the hill I went, did I really use to ride my bike down that hill no-handed? I wended my way up to my old house, passing homes I had been in and remembering the trek from my house to my friend's during the blizzard of '78. Such a short distance but it took so long! Suddenly I was at the stop at Follen Hill Road, time to take a right! Now memories were pouring in. I tried to remember where all the people I knew used to live and wondered if their families were still there. Then I saw my street, Pine Wood Road on the left. Wait! It's paved? So much for playing "lakes and rivers" with my dad! I stopped in front of my old house and sat for a bit; they've put up a fence and taken down my crab apple tree. I don't see any funky furniture on the screen porch; it just looks like they store stuff out there. Boy this house looks smaller than I remember!

I sat there long enough to draw attention from anyone looking out the window, but no one peeked out, I even took a picture. The time "what's-his-name" pulled out in front of me and I went over the handlebars of my 1^st 10 speed bike and I bent the fork; the time I was grounded and posed a protest out in front of my house. Then there was the time I was "woodworking" making a skittles set with a razor when no one was home and sliced my finger open but good! The neighbor was a retired doctor and took me to my doctor's office not thinking to leave my mom a note and she came home to see her wallpaper covered in blood spatter. I'd sat long enough, time to move on.

I passed the "rocks," the place where my friends and I would gather as a gang of ten, eleven and twelve year olds, to play with our trolls. I turned the corner and looked at all the houses I used to walk past on my way to school; considered for a moment knocking on the doors of the families I remembered, but not knowing what to say if they still lived there. Finally I was on my way to explore the spice store. 

Located on Mass. Ave just a little way up from Brigham's on the left in Arlington Heights, is this little parking lot adjacent to Penzeys, very convenient parking. I walked through the front door and it was love at first whiff! The displays are simple and yet very elegant; the selection is out of this world with prices that made me blink, I was sure they were wrong! I think I counted 15 different kinds of peppers and saw things there that I've been longing to buy. Each display has a wonderful write up on what the particular spice or mix of spices could be used for.  Several of the displays have recipe cards and I'm crazy for those! The catalog is chock full of tips, tricks, recipes and stories from the staff that work in their nationwide chain. They've even got their own cookbook, 384 pages of amazingness!

After an hour or more in the shop, surreptitiously taking a few photos on my phone and having selected a few things such as; Tandoori, Vindaloo, Ajwain, Sate, Sumac Berries, French Thyme, Taco Seasoning, Sage, Spain Cracked Rosemary, Juniper Berries, Chili Piquin, Basil... and of course their cook book, I returned to my car. I still felt adventurous and the wanderer in me decided to go back home though Lexington and tour around a bit.

Though it has been 31 years since I moved away from Lexington, nary to return, it is still a natural instinct for me to turn left at the Sacred Heart church and head on up Follen Road; today was no exception until I caught Wilson's farms out of the corner of my eye. Carefully checking that I wasn't about to cause an accident, I quickly changed direction and headed for the farm stand, a Lexington institution. So very familiar to me, and yet territory I had not explored in such a long time. I got out of the car and proceeded to the entrance, not intending to buy a thing but just to have a look around.

Instantly I was brought back to being a ten year old girl, walking into the farm stand for the first time with my new friend, Ruth Anne (who I wish I could find), she wanted me to try a pomegranate; I'd never had one before. The feel of the floor was the same as that first time I stepped in and the first thing that caught my eye was a big barrel full of pomegranates. I began making my way around the store when I happened upon some russet potatoes, wow did they look good; nothing like I see in the supermarket! I told myself that I would just grab those for Thanksgiving. I went in search of a cart. Cart in hand I returned to the potatoes and got two bags full; I need to have leftovers this year. I wondered that, though the place was fairly full of people, it did not feel crowded.

I decided to continue to look around and see what other yummy treasures I might find; the butternut squash looked amazing! After loading up on squash, I decided to make my way to the check out and went around a display of turkeys; oops! The friendliest fella you ever wanted to meet was just around the corner as I was timidly approaching the turkeys. By the time he was done telling me about the turkeys that I was eyeing, I was hooked and into the carriage the turkey went.  After all, he was barn and farm raise in Pennsylvania, no hormones, corn fed and only allowed to watch the most wholesome of TV shows. Before I knew what was happening my cart was full of all the trimmings I need for my Thanksgiving table. I stopped short of getting flowers since we are trying to scale it back this year. The shopping day I dread every year was over!

I drove away from Wilson's and back up Follen Hill Road; resisting the urge to yet again pull up and sit a spell in front of the only house I know to be my family home. I passed the houses I used to pass on my 10 speed bike, down, down, down the hill. Bam! I was at the intersection where my sister and I narrowly avoided a crash. I look left, there's the parade route for the bi-centennial parade; I was by far the worst of the Hayden Twirlers! I follow the route, passed the Jonas Clarke Junior High School; which did not sink into the ground despite our beliefs that it would. The path that I took when forced to walk the two miles to school, then the four corners and so many memories. Dunkins, straight ahead to the homes of some high school loves or to the left to Wal-Lex where we skated our hearts out on Friday and Saturday nights for years, or to the right in the general direction of my real home?

I chose the right path, and I feel good about my decision. By going to the right, I passed my old High School; what did they do to it? Then nostalgia hits me again; Mrs. Attwell, the blind lady I "walked" for four years. Her room in the assisted living facility was directly in front of me. The talks we had, the memories I have of her and the errands we'd "run", overtook me. I know she's gone now, I "walked" her in her eighties, some thirty seven years ago; every day she'd give me a dollar and a tiny ginger ale in a glass bottle and we'd listen to classical music that she would play on her record player.

Finally on my final block and on my way home, I took a last look at the green and made my way back to the highway, feeling somewhat relieved to be heading home. Though my memories of living in Lexington are fond, my home is in North Andover; it is where I have chosen to bring my kids up and the place that I hope they will return for the holidays for many years to come. As I crest the hill on 125 with the middle school on my left and the high school in the vista on my right, I am home.

Israeli Vegetable Salad

• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cucumber, diced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbls. olive oil
• 1 Tbls. Grape seed oil
• ½ tsp.  ground sumac or za'atar (optional)

1. Mix peppers, tomatoes, onions and cucumber together

2. In a small bowl, stir together the salt, pepper, lemon juice, and garlic. Slowly whisk in the oils. Pour over the vegetables, mix, sprinkle with sumac or za'atar, and serve.

Za'atar

• 2 Tbls. minced fresh thyme
• 2 Tbls.  sesame seeds, toasted
• 2 tsp.  ground sumac
• 1 tsp. marjoram
• 1/2 tsp.  coarse salt