I don't know why, but I got the urge to search for information on my hometown. Dorchester, Nebraska. I found the link to the village's would-be news outlet, The Dorchester Times. (I have provided a permanent link on our menu to the left.)
I cried for an hour.
While the small town will always be very dear to me, being the place where I spent my "wonder years", too much is changing for me to call it home anymore. Now, don't get me wrong, change is good, especially when you are talking about the greater good, buildings need to be torn down and new rebuilt. Dorchester has been in need of a facelift for some time and I applaud those who made the decisions for positive change.
But two buildings that had a huge impact on my growing-up are gone (or at least about to be gone.) My church and my school.
Probably the one that really got to me was this picture:
in this blog post. This used to be the United Methodist Church building. If you imagine it freshly painted, with a steeple on the bell tower (where it still had a rope-pull bell to ring), beautiful stained glass in the windows, and a basement underneath that was accessed by a screen door just under bell tower, then you get the idea. Also, it sat on the edge of town surrounded by typical small-town houses, not out in the middle of a corn field waiting to be burned down. (Though it will more likely just rot away.)
While I currently belong to a different church, I always thought of this as my "home" church. There were so many parts of my life that took place here. My first job was to be the janitor here (like-wise, it was my first job to be fired from- rightly I might add!) It made me sad to see it like this. I know the new building is very nice looking (and this one was very old and cost-wise very expensive to heat and cool) I wish there were a better way to retire it. (Side note: as a youth in this church, I also got to go to Riverside Church Camp in Jr. High. The camp, too, is gone - turned into a cattle farm from what I read.)
The other thing that made me sad was the news that my school was being torn down and rebuilt - well, at least the part most of my high school classes were in. From the looks of the plans, the new school is going to be great, but I am still a little sad to see the old one go. On top of that, it looks like they are also tearing down the house next to the school - where we lived when I was in first and second grade (I think - don't remember exactly when). It was just too much to look at. I know that the old school really had to go, but it still makes me sad.
I hate to admit it, but there are times when I miss Dorchester. Life there just seemed uncomplicated. While there is some sadness associated with my teen years, there are many more fond memories, especially now when I look back on how simple things seemed to be compared to now. Not that I currently have the ability to move back there, but something inside me always thought that I'd go home, at least for a visit. Now I'm not sure I would recognize it if I did.
And that's probably for the better. I shouldn't expect the ghosts of my past to remain frozen, except in my memory. There's probably much more I can say on this subject, and probably will, but for now I just wanted to memorialize my school and my church.
May they rest in peace, and may the new buildings bring as fond of memories to those who go there now as I had when I was there.
