Instagram: @janiewalkerusa
January 27-28, 2022
I took a tour through history this past week. Not just Boston’s, but my own. My younger daughter is now in boarding school – she needed more social support than I or the community college could give her after her older sister and all her friends left for college last summer, and this school can provide her with that plus individualize her education to meet her advanced math and science abilities. This all happened late last month, but it became obvious it was what she needed to continue to grow. The school is close by so visits happen regularly, and she is happy there. She is getting what she needs, so I am glad about that, but I did spend most of December grieving for the couple of years I’ve lost with her. I didn’t expect to become an empty nester this soon. I thought she and I had more time.
Though I no longer have kids here, I still cannot yet begin my LifeQuest fulltime. That has to wait until a) my elderly cat dies and b) my youngest is in college. I need to be the default parent and stay here for her until she is settled in her undergraduate institution. Motherhood comes first until my youngest is over the age of 18 and steadily on her way.
In the meantime, I continue to work on a personal project that should be finished within a year or so, and I am now going through my home and cleaning it out, getting it ready to sell should I choose to let it go in a couple of years. Part of me wants to keep it so my adult kids always have a place to go to should they need it, and part of me knows I am nearly finished with this area and don’t plan on coming back once I am pursuing my LifeQuest fulltime. The choice doesn’t need to be made just yet, but I am going through everything and cleaning things out nonetheless.
In my exploration of a closet I hadn’t opened in over five years, I found a large plastic container filled with mementos from my past. Photos, ticket stubs, yearbooks, drawings the kids made for me when they were barely old enough to hold crayons, and diaries. Lots and lots of diaries. As I read through those diaries, I wanted so badly to be able to reach through them and give advice to the younger me. I wish I hadn’t been so hard on myself and blamed myself for things that were beyond my control or were the actions of others. Had I been kinder to myself, my choices would have been different and I could have saved myself a lot of pain. There are so many things I would do differently given the chance. But what’s the saying? Youth is wasted on the young. I think that’s it.
After three solid weeks of working on that project, walking local freezing and snowy streets for exercise (I don’t want to hike mountains in the winter anymore), and reliving my past while cleaning out my home, I needed a break. I figured I would cash in some saved hotel reward points and stay in Boston for a couple of nights.
I’ve been to Boston countless times as I lived in Cambridge and Somerville for nine years before moving to New Hampshire. Nearly all of those times I had at least one small child in tow, so my time was usually spent going to the Children’s Museum or the Science Museum or the Aquarium. I also participated in a sit-in by Faneuil Hall to advocate for the acceptance of public breastfeeding (and breastfed my youngest alongside a ton of other mothers breastfeeding their young). My daughters and I did the Freedom Trail too, years ago. They enjoyed it and they still remember doing it, but I thought I’d take my staycation as an opportunity to do it again, this time solo. It’s the best way to experience the Boston National Historical Park.
One site that is part of the Boston NHP but not included on the Freedom Trail is Dorchester Heights. This site is a fifteen-minute drive from the center of Boston, and there is free two-hour parking close to the monument. I visited it on the 27th before arriving at my hotel. There are no hiking trails here, so it’s a quick visit. This is where George Washington stationed men in a successful attempt to expel the British and end the Boston Siege. The British thought Washington and his men were fighting on the north side due to some decoy cannon firing close to Cambridge. They were surprised and outmaneuvered by the Patriots due to the position taken on this hill.
The next morning, I walked from my hotel to the Boston Common Visitor Information Center where I bought an informative guide to the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is easy to follow since a line marks its route throughout the city. Others walked the trail that day too, and I kept seeing the same people at various sites. The day was brisk but not too cold for this northerner, so it was a pleasant excursion, and I took my time. I went into everything that was open and free, plus I paid for admission and visited the Old South Meeting House and the Old State House (the same ticket gets you into both). One can also pay to enter other buildings and museums on the route, but I elected not to do that. I took over five hours walking the trail and seeing everything I did see, and I imagine if you go into every building and take your time, one could easily spend the entire day and possibly need to come back the next morning. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just not what I wanted to do.
So much history here. American Revolutionary War ammunition, weapons, clothing, artifacts, original structures and bricks, you name it, it’s here. There is too much history involved with each building to adequately sum up in a caption, so instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I’ll guide the history lover to the National Park Service’s Virtual Freedom Trail Tour.
I find myself appreciating history now in a way I never did during my younger years. Maybe I appreciate old things now because I am getting older? Anyway, I enjoyed this tour of Boston’s history. There are two more visits to make here in the city for LifeQuest purposes, and I hope to make them this year.