Home to....Rockford (1)

For all of you who don't know, Rockford, Illinois is where I spent the first 18 years of my life - rather important years. Rockford gets lots of bad press... I still remember one of my students in the Linguistics class of Spring 07 who, when I mentioned in class my origins, told the story of Hulk Hogan stating that Rockford was the second best city in the U.S., all other cities coming first. And apparently, on various lists ranking cities in the U.S. for quality of life, Rockford has been known to come in last or near last. Frankly, I trust Hulk Hogan and those kinds of lists people put together for whatever reason they have about as much as I trust politicians, certain administrators, and students who don't do their homework and can't own up to it. I think Rockford's great, and we had a great weekend there October 19-21.

The occasion was Sue Deery (Trixie)'s 50th birthday bash. Mom had come to St. Louis, and high school chum (and partner in bikeriding around Rockford, crime, and carkissing) Colleen Brophy (now Karstens, but aka Broph and/or Shirley) and her 10-year-old daughter, Nicky Joy, swung into St. Louis on Friday afternoon in their van to pick Mom, me and Diana up, and thus started our road trip across the Mississippi and northwards through Illinois.

The trip up was uneventful in terms of scenery, just as well, as Colleen and I jabbered away in an attempt to catch up on a good 20 years of our lives. When we arrived to the outskirts of Rockford, Mom, Colleen and I were all taken by that odd feeling of "this is SO familiar, then why is it SO different?" Cherry Vale used to be a mall on the southwest edge of Rockford, out in the country all by itself, and now it is surrounded by businesses, new streets, housing developments, cars everywhere. Progress!

I was delighted, though, when we arrived at our destination - the Comfort Suites hotel connected to Cliffbreakers, right on the Rock River, on Riverside Blvd., a mere mile away from the house I grew up in on 3627 Huffman Blvd., and right next to North Towne...a strip mall where I spent a good amount of time during my teen years, and where I held my first jobs at the age of 16, first at Key Rexall Drugs and then at Noble Shoe Store. OK, so the memory synapses were in overdrive...as they were all weekend!

After we got something to eat, Colleen and I took off for Finnegan's Cottage, a bar owned by old highschool mate John Waugh. I swear I don't remember him every being that talkative (or maybe I was so shy around the opposite sex in high school that I thought everyone else was!). We had a great time catching up, and John can tell some pretty funny stories!

We woke up to a beautiful morning on Saturday, and I got a couple of walks (one with Mom and one with Colleen) on the bike path which runs along the Rock River. It is a spectacular walk, especially at this time of year, with all of the trees turning to bright yellow and burnt orange, yet still a lot of green about. Mom was having a leisurely lunch with her bridge club at Cliffbreakers (coincidentally). So Colleen and I tooled about the town with our daughters in tow, reliving more of our past lives, getting ready for the big event that evening...Trixie's 50th.

Diana, Colleen and I giggled as we were arriving to the bash about the jumping around and "oh my god"s that were bound to take place, although...NOT US...never in that overexcited valley girl style...which, I would say, characterizes fairly well what DID happen when we saw wonderful people like...Trixie (that's Colleen, Trixie & me in the photo)

And ...with me in this photo Patte Armato (Lund) (who brilliantly provided the music for the evening) and Linda Marchese (Schuler)

and more of the very cool people I went to school with, and who I had a great time catching up with (and once again partying with...).

Missing from these pictures are other good friends, like Carla Saieva and Cathy Conti...who will feature in Part 2 of this exciting Rockford series...