We Went to Carvel

For our second day of the Phil tour, we drove to Mom’s old apartment building and visited the stop where your young love for each other grew. We drove by Manhattan college, where you were as dedicated as an alum as you were a student. And we drove by the animal hospital where Mom worked, but now it is a school or something.

Next, we drove to Carvel, where you worked the college and law school. Carvel is where you and Mom met. We would have gone inside, but it wasn’t open yet. I made Mom drive me to a different Carvel (that didn’t exist) and then yet another Carvel (that did exist) so I could get my favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream.

We went to your middle school, your high school, and your town library. But my favorite spot was our old apartment building, where you grew up as a kid and where we later lived as a family. We would ride our bikes in that little courtyard out front. It looks exactly the same now as it did in 1987. The nostalgia seeped through my veins.

Lately, I’m craving these nostalgic moments. Sometimes, they feel like a warm hug. When everything feels like it changes on a dime, there’s comfort in seeing something steady. I believe that we all want to seek out new adventures while also having something we can count on.

Standing in the spot where a memory happened reinforces that memory and makes it stronger. It feels like recharging the memory so it can last another 10 years.

But if the place has changed too much or is gone completely, I worry the memory will start to fade. I hopefully have more decades of life in me, which means my memory batteries will drain. Luckily, you wrote them all down in the Hoffman Family Calendar. But seeing them live is still a great feeling.

I promise to keep visiting these places Dad so I feel fully charged on our happy memories together.