OK, so I can't belt out the line as Whitney Houston did, but the feeling is all there. After a seven-year hiatus since my last visit, and three years of preparation and regular visits to forgotten-ny.com , Queens Crap and most notably the Street View feature on Google Maps , I picked up where I left off November 15-24. The trip itself was delayed three times since it was originally slated for September '07. Before that, additional family matters (good and bad) challenged my ability to make the trip, but too many things were tugging at us on the home front. Little did I know, it was a blessing in disguise. The major motive for this trip, besides that seven years is too long a gap between visits to your hometown, was to introduce/re-introduce Lisa and Nic to the family and for me to reconnect with as many relatives who don't live in the immediate vicinity of Grandma's house. (In past visits, I only took public transit; this time we had a car for the duration.) I had
Musings about the people, places, and things that get my ADD/OCD juices flowing