Betsy

I took this today, after taking a day trip to Copake, New York. As a child, my family had a summer home in the area, which was not too physically far from where we lived in Westchester but it felt worlds away.

My father was terminally ill so the days we spent in Copake were a break from our normalcy. It was a retreat.

Across from this former hot spot was a tiny movie theatre, which has since then burned down in an arsonist's fire. Sad. Dustin Hoffman saw Back to the Future in that theatre (he must have also had a summer home in the area) and he sat in the front row. He ducked out before the movie ended but we all spotted him during the opening credits. Of course, The Hub being the "hub" as it were, was where everyone was talking about Mr. Hoffman's visit to rural Copake. Everyone's faces were lit and everyone hoped he'd return. (He did not return.)

Today, feeling nostalgic and a little sad for it, I drove back to Copake for the first time in twenty-five years. I expected to grab a burger at The Hub before driving slowly past our summer home with the wooden porch and the rope swing over the lakeside. I don't know why I expected it because life does slow down and life does decay some very monumental structures.

I think when the movie theatre burned to the ground, I should have anticipated that The Hub might have died with it it - or at least suffered physically.

This photo was taken with steady hands as it didn't make me sad until I drove past my former home, which was also weathered and suffering in its own way.

When I drove out of the town and south on Route 22, I stopped my car on the roadside, folded my arms, and just stood there, replaying back the imagery I had prior to my return in the afternoon. And in doing so, the photos in my mind do no justice to the photo I am now sending. In my head, The Hub is vibrant and pastel and lit up and customer's hands and faces are sticky from the ice cream, post movie.