Micro-post: Echoes of a distant past

I had to go into the local walk-in clinic to day to discuss a prescription that I was leery about. As the wait was over an hour long, the receptionist gave me the option to head off and return after an hour, so I wouldn't be waiting that long. It's a smart policy - it keeps their patients happy and they don't have to put up with a concentration of sick people in their waiting room. So, I decided to go have lunch instead. On the way back to the clinic, I passed by a closed down section of the strip mall. Over the years, practically every business that has rented the space hasn't lasted more than a year or two. However, twenty years ago, it was the site for a Consumers Distributing outlet

I was a poor university student then with very limited funds. In order to make do with little money, I would scrimp by going to discount places like Consumers Distributing. I remember flipping through their catalogues, which were chained and bolted onto their stands. I remember filling in the order forms with long item numbers. I remember standing in line and hoping that the items was in stock. When the item was in stock, I remember checking it every time to ensure it wasn't a restocked item from a previous sale that had been returned, and if so, that all the bits that were supposed to be in the box were there.

Fun times.

I strolled over to the now-vacant shop space with the paper-covered windows and the obligatory sign on the door explaining why there was no tenant there now. Twenty years ago. Oh my.

The only other time I felt that way was when I went back to my parents' place some years back. My room seemed a lot smaller. The items that were important to me felt like just cheap ordinary junk, for the most part. My wall clock with the schooner sailing majestically through the seas was still there, its regular ticking still driving me crazy every night.

A lot of memories.

You know, I haven't had a bad life, all things considered. There weren't many happy moments, true, but I *had* a childhood, with both parents intact in a family unit. That's not something that many children have these days. I have mind-snapshots of my childhood slowly trickling in now that I'm sorting out some of the abuse I had back then. Not happy memories but not sad ones either. Just...memories from over three decades ago.