Sometimes a detour is called for.
I was stopped at a traffic light in McKeesport, on my way to my next destination, when I noticed the words National Tube Works on the side of the brick building behind the former Daily News. Despite the cold crisp day, the welcomed sun seemed to illuminate things that had been washed out by the grey overtone that is typically Pittsburgh in the winter.
I have driven past this building many times in my life, but never had those words jumped out at me the way they did at this moment. The significance of those words... National Tube Works is that my grandfather spent 30+ years of his life working there. I never had the opportunity to see him in action, or see actually where his department was, but I knew he faithfully rode a bus each day to get to and from his job. I knew he received a special engraved gold clock for his years of service.
As I sat at the light the thought ran through my head to take a photo with my phone. Unfortunately, the thought came too late and I had to drive on. I turned as soon as I could to double back and then I saw them...their blue color and shape unmistakable. I was drawn to them. I had to see them up close.
Another detour.
This time I was distracted by the royal blue onion domes of the Orthodox church on Shaw Avenue. I used to stare at these domes as a child while at recess. I attended St. Nicholas School just up the street. Our playground was a gravel lot a few doors down from the church. When I was a kid those domes seemed so majestic, so rich, so other worldly. I always wanted to go in that church, but to this day, never have. I would spend many an afternoon gazing at those domes and the other day against a clear blue sky backdrop they remain a beacon in that depressed community. I took a few photos and then headed back to National Tube.
I am not sure what caused me to be so nostalgic the other day, but I did have a motive to take photos . I thought what if they tear down that National Tube Building? What if that church closes and the domes lose their allure? These cell phones make it so easy to capture moments and our storage space is often filled to capacity with more photos than we need, or will even download, but those photos of my grandfather's workplace and the Orthodox church, yeah, I want to be sure to have those.
My parents grew up in McKeesport and they remember what things were like when the town was bustling during the steel mill hay-day. Although it was sad for me to drive around and see how much things have changed from my childhood, it is almost like those days never happened with what is left, what is no longer there, and what has been replaced.
But McKeesport isn't alone. The other day someone posted an old time photo of Braddock Avenue and I did not recognize one building - Ohringers Furniture Store, Ochs Restaurant. I only became familiar with Braddock after the closing of Braddock Hospital so I don't have the intimate knowledge as many who grew up there.
It is sad how things change and the older I get the more nostalgic I seem to become. The farther you get from the "good ol' days" the more you want to remember the simpler times with no worries. Now the landscape where my children grew up is about to change. The Kmart in North Versailles is about to close forever and Kings Restaurant's will eventually disappear to make room for a Get Go.
That corridor is about to transform from what they have etched in their minds. There is a lot of talk about what might move into the Kmart building and my kids are hoping for either a Target or a Panera/Chick Fil A combo. We all can dream, right?
So as the landscape of our lives continues to change, we should not be afraid to make little detours. Let's keep filling up our phones with photos because we can and don't have to go to the Fotomat and wait 5 days to see if they took. Do you remember where there used to be a Fotomat? I do.
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