Inside Loretta LaRoche.com 
Inside Loretta LaRoche.com Keep Up With Loretta "Get a Life" Articles Lamenting our lost sense of community
Inside Loretta LaRoche.com Keep Up With Loretta "Get a Life" Articles Lamenting our lost sense of community | Lamenting our lost sense of community |
|
|
|
|
A couple of weeks ago I went to New York and met my daughter for a
weekend of rest and relaxation. While I was there, I decided to do
something I’ve thought about for a very long time. I went to Brooklyn
to visit the house in which I was born and lived for the first eight
years of my life. I stood in front of the beautiful old brownstone, walked up the steps and peered inside. I rang the bell, hoping that someone was home to take me through the rooms where I spent so many happy hours. Unfortunately, all I got to do was get a glimpse of what had been my grandmother’s living room and some of her bedroom. My grandmother bought the house during the Depression for $5,000. It could easily sell now for more than $2 million. As I stood there, my nose pressed to the glass, memories washed over me. The staircase that I used to sweep from top to bottom with a doll-size brush and pan. It was my chore and I was proud of it. Helping to clean the house made me feel grown up and important. My, how perceptions shift. If I never cleaned anything again I would feel like I had been let out of prison. I remembered all the wonderful smells that wafted out of the kitchen where my grandparents cooked for hours, feeding anyone who would sit at their table. I was always given a task and that, too, made me feel that I was part of something magical. How many of us today are cooking and eating with families? The statistics show that the average family may have two to three meals together a week, if they’re lucky. My grandmother, who is probably running an Italian restaurant in heaven, is probably shaking her head in dismay and praying for the lost souls who don’t understand the importance of breaking bread together. I felt blessed and yet deeply saddened as I recalled the many characters who marched through my Brooklyn homestead and often stayed for weeks on end. My family always took in someone who was less fortunate, until that person got back on his feet. There wasn’t a lot to go around, but they always seemed to be able to stretch it to the max. Today, our lives are so overburdened that the thought of reaching out to someone becomes daunting. Just taking care of ourselves and our families is a full-time job. More than anything, I realized how much I miss the sense of community. Someone was always available to care and administer some kind of nurturing in the form of love, laughter or lasagna.
I know we can’t go back home, but hopefully we can in some small way
bring the best of the past into the present to share with those we
love. I can’t think of a better legacy. By LORETTA LAROCHEF for The Patriot Ledger
Copyright 2006 The Patriot Ledger Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
| Home |
| What To Know About Loretta |
| Keep Up With Loretta |
| Loretta's Community |
| Loretta's Speaker Bureau |
| Kickin' Resource Guide |
| E-Store |
| Contact Us |
Member Login
