I'll miss you when you're gone

When I was young, I used to to wonder why my parents would get nostalgic over seemingly lame stuff like grocery stores of days gone by or older model cars. Who cares??

Well, I get it now. Sort of. Sometimes I surprise myself by how overly sentimental I feel about silly stuff.

Like Juicy Fruit gum. My grandfather always used to keep two packs in his pocket for me and my sister. He would give it to us and we would rip into it only to find that it had been in his pocket for so long that the gum had melted to the wrapper. It was the most delicious gum I ever had.

Or Fritos. There was a city pool that we went to as kids. I was always allowed one treat from the snack bar and I always chose a bag of Fritos. I would run out of the pool and eat them one by one while my hair dripped all over the bag. When I smell Fritos, I can still see the dolphin in the middle of the baby pool.

Or my mother's bracelets. My mother had a set of gold bracelets that her mother had given her and she only wore them on special occasions. When my parents went out, the older couple next door, Uncle Gene and Auntie Margaret, would babysit. I had huge separation anxiety issues as a child and I would pretend to be asleep while I waited for my parents to come home. As soon as I heard the jingle of the coins on my mother's bracelet, I knew that I would be home safe in my bed soon.

My latest starry eyed sentiment came yesterday when I heard that a roller coaster from an amusement park that I used to go to as a child had received the ACE Roller Coaster Landmark designation, awarded only to coasters of historical significance. The Big Dipper was the 14th oldest roller coaster in the world and the 10th oldest in the United States when Geauga Lake closed in 2007.

All the rides were auctioned off and hauled away, except for the Big Dipper. It was sold for $5,000, significantly lower than the $50,000 it cost to build it in 1925. Lest you think the bidder got a great deal, keep in mind that it will cost upwards of $3 million dollars to move it and no decision has been made yet where that might be. So it sits as a solitary reminder of what used to be.


I have such amazing memories of going to this park as a child and I remember riding the coaster for the first time, certain that I was going to fly out of the seat.

I just spent the last 30 minutes on YouTube watching tributes to Geauga Lake. I was almost brought to tears by one playing Michael Bolton's, How Am I Supposed to Live Without You as the background music when I thought to myself, What the hell is wrong with you?!

Come take a ride with me on this gem. Hold on tight!