When the Future becomes the Present
I remember years ago my parents telling me that they were going to widen the road in front of our little house. Route 28 would go from a two lane road (one each way) to four lanes, and the clincher was that the extra lanes would be on our side of the road, taking our short driveway into a very short driveway, the cars that zoom past now too close for comfort. We already had a special tree that was designated as the "no pass zone" unless you were getting on the bus, and only Mom or Dad could get the mail from the box across the street.
My parents decided it was best that we move and we started construction in the Kingsbrooke neighborhood off Linton Hall Road. We moved in February 2001. I continued to attend Brentsville District High School, passing by our old house that always looked the same. At times I thought, "What happened to the road widening?" and now, over 15 years later, it's actually happening.
It's incredible to me that what appeared to be an imminent threat took so long to come to fruition. I'm not opposed to the road widening, but I also cringe when I drive by our little brick rambler and see a giant excavator spreading rocks, the ditch and part of our yard destroyed.
I imagine that soon the land will be sold and the house plowed over, maybe a bigger one will be built farther back, someday. My childhood house will be like my Mom's and Dad's, an empty spot we can point to and say "I used to live here" but our mind struggles to remember or imagine it.
Growth. Change. Progress. I don't want to run from it but sometimes it stings.
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