You're on a train that will take you back to your childhood for one hour. What will you do for one last time?

I would go to my grandmother’s house, with my grandmother and grandfather there. They lived in a big, beautiful old Victorian on the banks of the mighty Hudson. The property went down to the river, and we would sometimes go down on paths, down to the river. In the summer, my friends (neighbors) would come and we’d play in the backyard. My grandmother was always baking, and giving us punch. She had a blue wooden bench swing in the backyard, and we’d sit on that and swing. There was also a hammock.

In the kitchen, the cabinets were very old with glass windows and clasps. The house had a lot of porches, like Victorians do – a back porch, side porch, front porch. The attic was like a treasure chest with decades of family members’ toys, books and all kinds of stuff. The whole house was like that. It was like stuff you find at flea markets – the stuff from the 40s, 50s and 60s. All kinds of stuff. My grandmother was a legendary cook. The holiday dinners were all at her house. She wasn’t a fancy person but she was a very nurturing, maternal person. She’d read me Richard Scarry books and nursery rhymes. I could go on and on.

That would be my one hour of choice.

Call CPS

No, but for real, I’d love to play with shaving cream on tables again in school. Or those scooters or that big parachute thing.

Or go to the Milwaukee public museum and go down the streets of old Milwaukee, that was my favorite. That and the butterflies. There was this mini book pamphlet you’d grab, and you would go around answering the questions from exhibits all over the museum. It was like a scavenger hunt. Sometimes you’d have to find different artifacts and circle the picture that was correct. I’d love to do that again.

This is hard to pick. I’d also love to do a craft with my mother one last time.

I can’t choose. I’d either pick my mother or my grandma realistically.

I will take that journey into the past for the sake of nostalgia even though the seat is uncomfortable and the windows grimy with dirt. At some point the carriage is pulled by a steam e ngine and it is time to get off.

The platform is indistinct due to fog or smoke but I know the way and I set off quickly along familiar streets to my grandfather’s house.

People I had almost forgotten emerge from the mist but I am in a hurry and I cannot stop. I leave them scratching their heads and looking back in puzzlement.

And here is the squeaky garden gate and the large front door which to my relief is left ajar.
There is still time. I walk passed the old barometer hanging on the wall to the sitting room and yes the old mahogany chest, sold at auction, is still there. And there is the drawer top right, never to be opened without permission, but who can give permission today?
I
I slide it open and see my grandfathers home made toffee newly smashed into mouth sized pieces. I take a piece and feel it’s jagged awkward edges in my mouth and taste the sweetness i will never taste again.

Be with my family altogether. My grandparents aunts and uncles who are all dead now. It would most likely be at my grandmother’s apartment.

Sit and talk to my Father.

@flutherother What a sweet post. Thank you for that.
I would travel back to sit with both my mom and dad and ask them all the questions I have about them that they kept from us.

My first thought was that I would travel back to when my brother was alive and visit with him although I was only 4 and he was 6 when he died. I would talk to him and find out more about him and tell him I appreciated how he took care of me. But my next thought is that I would like to travel back to when I was in young middle age and spend an hour with my then husband and my kids when they were about 10 and 12 – perhaps sitting around the dinner table joking and laughing or driving back to the state park cabin where we vacationed at night with Bob Seger or Bruce playing in the car. Those were some of the happiest times in my life.

Sailing with my Dad.

Sit with my grandmother and just be. She was the only adult I felt safe with growing up. I also wouldn’t mind having her lemon meringue pie one more time.

I’d go to my grandmother’s house on Cape Cod (South Yarmouth), where my cousins and I spent our childhood summers. The house was just a couple of blocks from the ocean and mere inches from heaven.

Oh, to see my loving Nana again and to enjoy months of blissful swimming, hanging on the beach, riding bikes, and all the things we did together.

(Funny memory. On the main road, there’s a restaurant called The Pancake Man. The cousins and I always wanted to go there, but Nana said. “It’s for tourists, not for us.” A few years back, some of us reunited on the Cape and, of course, made our first visit to The Pancake Man. We had the best time, complete with jokes about how we’d become tourists.)

@Love_my_doggie I love Cape Cod! My parents used to stay in Chatham, then Yarmouth, then Orleans. I’ve been to the Pancake Man once or twice.

https://www.pancakeman.com/

I have great memories of Cape Cod! I would love to go back to this see-saw swing like thing my sister and I used to play on there. I loved it. Happy Times.

@jca2 I’ve been to the Pancake Man once or twice

That place is SO wonderful. To think that I was deprived for my entire childhood…