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Today’s Blog Post
...at Hamilton Beach
As we pulled into Bronte, just coming over the Bronte Creek in Oakville, Ontario, the memories continued to flood my mind.
To get to this spot we had traveled all the way from Niagara-on-the-Lake to west side of St. Catherines where the side road idea ran out, then we pulled on to the big QEW. After a few miles of whizzing along at break neck speeds we found our way off the main road again and on to slower roads all connected around Lake Ontario and heading west.
These are kind of forgotten roads. Only the local people use them to get “their Lake front” or favorite beach area.
We pulled off street and into the parking lot of the Hamilton Beach. It was then that Alida asked me about our bicycle trip of long ago. “Is this where we rode our bikes through?”
Yes it was the place. It was 33 years ago that we had ridden our bicycles from Oakville, Ontario to Niagara Falls and back again. Our daughters Dana and Anda were young then but both doing very well with their riding. Packing our side-saddles with our clothing and personal necessities, and planning to stay in motels along the way we pedaled on and on and on. The great concern that we had back then is that the only way we knew how to get to the Niagara Region was via the QEW.
But that wasn’t the case… we easily found all the roads that used to be the main roads but then (and now) were very lightly traveled. You needn’t get on any large highways at all.
It had been two days there and two days back again… with some time in between.
As we stood on the Hamilton Beach and remembered back… the wonderful memories flooded us yesterday.
In the small community of Bronte, nestled in at the mouth of the Bronte Creek, we found “Licks” burger place.
As we placed our order I asked the young fellow behind the counter which school he had attended. His answer was that both he and the other girl behind the counter attended the Blakelock High School.
Whoa! Our daughters had both attended that High School as well. Speaking with the young lady that put on the relish and the fixin’s on my order, she told us her mom had attended Blakelock as well.
I had been the Youth Pastor at the very fast growing Evangel Church and many of the kids had come to the Youth Group from Blakelock.
What a powerful feeling… Hamilton Beach a few miles from there the 33 year old memory had come rushing back…. Now standing in Licks the 25 year old memories had flooded my mind.
It was then that the third memory hit me hard. There across from the parking lot of Licks was the apartment we had stayed in just after we came back from Hong Kong.
Between 1980 and 1985 our lives had been radically altered forever was were immersed into the Asian culture of Hong Kong, China, and Thailand. Our daughters were little girls when we left Canada and had returned as beautiful young ladies.
We travelled further back in time within just a short distance… as we pulled into the parking lot of the Coronation Park in Oakville. Lake Ontario was just the same as it was years ago. In fact this park suddenly brought back a flood of memories of when we first arrived and started enjoying this beautiful park setting.
Our daughter Dana was just beginning to walk. Anda, our second daughter, wasn’t even a thought yet. We had been living in Fredericton, New Brunswick where Dana was born. Oakville was our next adventure.
As we sat in our “senior lawn chairs” now the days of being very young rushed back again. Across from where we were sitting was a young family with two little girls. They were just getting on the their bicycles and starting out for a ride. The young couple looked just like Murray and Alida Lincoln way back in 1969 when we first arrived in Oakville and the Coronation Park.
Away back then I was a working for a very large business machine company… not totally understanding what was going on inside of me. The job was amazing. The opportunity for growth was huge and I had the world by the tail.
Between 1969 and 1974 we had loved Oakville and all that we were doing… but then things started to change inside of me. I started dreaming about something more. I was unsettled and not able to understand the changes that we happening inside.
As I sat in my lawn chair enjoying the sunshine yesterday, I remembered back to that other time in 1973 and 1974 when I made a huge decision to leave the business machine company(called a Computer Company now)… and leave it to become an Ordained Minister.
That moment in time is a powerful one for me… leaving all that we had built and had… to do something that was illogical and even weird in the eyes of many of our friends!
From 1974 to 2008 I served as a Minister. And yesterday in that lawn chair my life flashed before me. Wow what an adventure it has been.
To help some of you that are trying to follow the time line, we had left Oakville in 1974 to go to Walkerton. Then we returned to Oakville in 1977 at which time I started work in Toronto at the International Office of the church we worked with. From that job we jumped across the ocean to Hong Kong and then came back to Oakville in 1985 then on to Scarborough in 1987, on to Yorkton, Saskatchewan in 1991, on to Regina in 1994 and finally to Peterborough in 1998.
What a trip it has been on the side roads of my life.
This vacation this week took us so far away from now it isn’t possible to tell the whole story without writing a book. Maybe that is next… maybe… it is time…
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com
1 comment:
What a lovely post! Thanks for sharing. It would be nice to see photos from back then. :)
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