Kensington

Memory lane beckoned on a crisp December morning, as I made my way through minimal traffic and across the American Legion Bridge from Virginia to Maryland.

With sound determination, I shut off the GPS and challenged myself to work through “muscle memory” in navigating the streets of upper Bethesda, through Chevy Chase and into lovely and nostalgic Kensington, Rockville, and eventually Silver Spring.

Of course, it’s been decades but once upon a time, I lived in that part of Maryland in the late 1980’s, while attending college in Virginia and sharing a beautiful apartment inside a larger home with two young women, who remain my closest of friends to this day.

The parents of one of the women offered us a school year of free housing in their large Silver Spring home, and created a unique set up where we had access to beautiful upstairs bedrooms, a living room on the main floor, and a kitchen set up in the basement.

My two roommates attended schools in Maryland, and for a “season” it was a magical arrangement of blending young college aged friendships across the Potomac River.

It was a time before cell phones, email and social media in the late 1980’s and our system of communication during the busy weeks with different schedules became yellow post-it notes. The post- it notes only came in one color back then, and they were everywhere, with reminders and encouragement, inside jokes and the occasional communication of some minor roommate conflict, such as:

” Dear Roomie, It would be helpful if you might consider practicing the piano a little later than 6 a.m.”

“Dear Roomie, We are concerned about your first date with the guy who picked you up in the snow and didn’t even get out to open your door. Maybe find a different guy.”

“Dear Roomies, Let’s throw the best Halloween party the University of Maryland has ever seen, with a Wizard of Oz theme. The kitchen will be the Emerald City, so think green!”

“Dear Roomie, We are NOT concerned about your new and very tall boyfriend who picked you up for a dream date this afternoon, in his nicest suit. We think you should marry that guy.”

“Dear Roomies, Let’s invite some friends and go see a show at the Kennedy Center. Wear your best dress and we will take pictures in the living room before we go!”

Ahh, all the beautiful memories came flooding back as I navigated the streets of the old and established neighborhoods in Maryland, only getting “lost” once or twice, watching young families load up their beautiful and fresh evergreen Christmas trees from the many sales at local, old churches of every denomination, along the way.

I stopped in the heart of Kensington for a Holiday themed, “Antique Row Open House” and ordered a Caprese sandwich from inside a little, winterized porch at a sandwich shop on the corner. I sat by the space heater, put away the phone and appreciated my surroundings on a crisp December Saturday.

There was the young couple with the two little bulldogs. The dad with his little girl in the bright orange puffer jacket and her little pink Crocs. The group of women enjoying lunch and strategizing their afternoon holiday shopping plans. A young man on his phone. And me, caught up and enjoying the memories of a lifetime long ago.

Suddenly, I unexpectedly heard the rumble of a train out of nowhere, and looked up from my lunch to realize the little sandwich shop was directly across the street from the CSX train tracks in Kensington. From beginning to end over nearly 10 minutes, I enjoyed the long train rolling by, with Josh Groban’s “Believe” playing in my minds eye.

“We were dreamers, not so long ago. But one by one we all had to grow up. When it seems the magic slipped away, we find it all again on Christmas Day.”

– Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri, songwriters

Merry Christmas to all.