At the start of January, I spent a few days at my parents' house by
myself. I had no car. I had no real commitments. It was a bit of a
retreat. One afternoon, I decided to walk up to the Tim Hortons
near Greenbank - a walking path which took me right across the
playground and fields of my old Junior High school.
I realized that as I was walking, Springsteen was in my headphones
as I had just purchased 'The Promise'. I was enjoying its gruff
luster through piano-mashing, harmonica swelling and sax blasting
rock of the E Street Band.
I felt sort of sentimental in the sense that the first record I ever
bought was 'Born In The USA' - and I had listened to it for the
first time ever in my parents family room, here in Nepean. And
now, here I was - a mostly grown man bustling across the frozen
turf of my yesteryear - stumbling into the now-ness of it all.
A neighbourhood that once seemed so massive is now so
shrunken and small.
I walked by the space park (which is now just a normal park
that was once laden with UFO type play structures made of
steel and paint) and paused near the swings. My friend Brian
and I had many good talks on those swings. Another time,
in that very park, a guy named Kenny destroyed a fort that
me, my brother Adam and Trevor Kalinowsky made. It was
one of the first times I ever felt really betrayed and ruined.
He karate kicked Trevor in the leg and Trevor threw some
sort of wooden club to my brother so that Kenny couldn't
take it. Adam caught it. Later that day, the three of us made
a 'Kenny doll' in my parents basement (with a head made from
a cardboard Quaker oats container) and beat the shit out of it.
I know that Bruce played a part, in some invisible way, in helping
to raise me as I listened to Born In The USA over and over again
until the needle naturally found skips in the vinyl. I know it sounds
lame, but Bruce and I have a connection through the streets
of this nondescript suburb - and we actually even have the same
birthday (September 23).
I'll always have Springsteen and Nepean.
