Going Back in Time

icy cold out today






A long time ago I was living in a Victorian house something very much like in the graphic above.
The owner and his wife lived upstairs, a veteran of the invasion at Anzio. I lived in the downstairs part of the house. It was a huge home in a section of town that had once been elegant and refined.

When I was barely 13,I was given some news articles by an old friend who was already in his late 90s when I was just entering my teens. He also gave me some dresses that had belonged to his sister, her diaries and school notebooks from long ago. Oh, how I treasured those things. I will tell you more about them another time.

One of the news articles featured the house around the corner from the one I in which I was living.
It had been the mayor's home in the late 1800's, early 1900's and it was a wonderful old white 'great lady' Victorian on a small hill that swept down to the sidewalk.

The article was the news of the Mayor's daughter's wedding and reception which took place in the mansion. The doors had been swung open to accommodate all the well wishers and for the ice sculptors to lug in a giant ice swan and flowers for the centerpiece. It described her lace gown and flowers and those of her attendants in detail. I could just see how it must have been. A photo showed them all gathered out front for the picture. So elegant.

It had snowed that evening and as it was a pretty deep snowfall the streets were empty by 10 PM. I decided to take a walk outside. Everything was quiet except for the gentle, crispy sound of the snow falling on the already white ground.. a sound I had never heard before but will never forget. The branches of trees were freezing and glittered like diamonds in the street lamp.
I was in awe, it was like a picture from a storybook outside. Since that time I have begun collecting "storybook" sights and saving them inside my head, they are that spectacular. I am sure you have your own storybook sights that linger on for you also.

I began to walk down the street to the next street over where the mayors old home stood , still majestic though old. Standing on the opposite side of the street I just looked and sighed at the vision of that house in the romantic scene of falling snow. Oh how I wanted to be a part of it....another time, a different way of life so romantic and elegant.

There was that grand old Victorian house with snow falling all around her in soft gentle folds that nestled up to her sides and decked her with diamonds on the roof and eaves and down the languid arms of the trees around her.

The double front doors were flung open and the warm yellow light was spilling outside onto the front lawn and steps like a wash of summer sunshine. I could hear music drifting out on the bitter cold air and the smell of roasting food. Perhaps the door was open to let some heat escape? I don't know but I was gone anyway... I had gone back in time and the house was asking me to come inside and return to another time in history.

Everything around me faded away for that instant and I could hear the laughter of those times past and see the women in their lovely gowns waltzing the winter night away with gallant gentlemen in dark long tailed suits. It was an unbelievable moment when I was whisked back in time and felt as if I were really there.

Everything was perfect

When I came back to myself I walked home still deep in thought about the moment and the beauty of it all but, wondering what would have happened if I had stepped inside. Police probably! But.. to a child of the Twilight Zone era there was that "what if" that wandered around in the back of my head.

What a night that was. This little graphic reminded me of that night and so I wanted to share it with you. It was a dream almost come true.. to go back in time and have a bit of romance in my life.

I hope all your dreams come true. Share them with us all if you would. They are important.