Comfort in change.

I haven't made a blog entry in quite a while.  When I started this a few years ago, I was sure that I'd stay with it and publish often  I had so much to say.  It seems to me now, that even though I've had a lot of things on my mind, I lacked a tipping point item.  I needed something with which I could tie all of my thoughts together into a theme, of sorts.  Then I would be able to write it all down in this format and present it all like a complete thought, all wrapped up in a pretty little bow.  That unifying tipping point happened only a few days ago.  I hope you enjoy reading this entry.


Change.  It's inevitable that things change.  In Florida they say that "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute!" I think my Mother said it best, "Nothing lasts forever, not the good, nor the bad." Those words could bring comfort to anyone caught in the transition from the known to the unknown, from the old to the new, from the expected to the unexpected.  There is no finality to change, it is intertwined with life, and life changes every day. There is comfort in the status quo, there is comfort in familiarity, there is no comfort in Change.


Just in the last few months my employer has changed the entire way it governs itself.  There are new policies, new departments, a new hierarchy, new challenges, new forms, new procedures...etc.  The department I have been in for 36 years has been cut in two.  Employees have been laid-off, and the work load has been expanded.  The feelings of chaos is tempered by the familiarity of working with people you know, and understanding that they too are dealing with the unfamiliar and the unknown.


I am old enough to remember visiting stores on Main Street Pittston in the years before shopping malls. Borr and Casey was our pharmacy.  You could have lunch at the Sweetland Restaurant, or the Majestic, purchase clothing from Corcoran and O'Brien, and for the Holidays, Santa Claus was at Woolworths.  I saw the "Sound of Music" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" in the American Theater. That theater hosted vaudeville only 50 years earlier. After years of prosperity, that all changed with urban sprawl and shopping malls. Those malls, corporate pharmacies, fast food outlets, big box retailers and multiplex theaters all but obliterated our downtown businesses.  When people moved away from city hubs, businesses and services moved with them. 

New and exciting businesses are now opening in downtown Pittston, and with the presence of 'Boden' we can include an international business.  Yes, I wrote 'international business' and 'Pittston' in the same sentence, twice. New tree's, curbs, sidewalks, crosswalks, signage and lighting have increased foot traffic and are bringing the city back to life. Pittston City is becoming the place to be, again.  Older buildings are being restored, spruced up and re-purposed. The design of the marquis on the old American Theater was the template for the new marquis on the front of "The Open Space". Sometimes the more things change, the more they remain the same.    So even change, changes.

The Scranton Diocese has been changing  The need to consolidate assets was great.  Pittston City alone had seven active churches, mostly built by immigrants to provide for the diverse cultures and the native languages of its members.  Local traditions remain, but the need for individual ethnicity churches has waned.  Over the course of the last four years or so, many were closed.  I've seen three church buildings demolished in that past few years. St. John the Baptist on William Street, Pittston, St. Mark's, Inkerman and Sacred Heart Church in Plains. I thought, ...how sad, but..... "nothing lasts forever, neither the good, nor the bad."


Then, St. Mary of the Assumption Church fell to the wrecking ball last Thursday.  This wasn't sad, it was devastating! Our parishioners toiled for 149 years.  Generations!  Baptisms, Confirmations, Weddings and Funerals.  Singing in the convent garage until 4am after working the annual festival from noon.  Halloween Parties, Bingo's, Smokers, pony rides on Sand Street.  All for nothing?  There is no comfort in change.


However, all of those memories?  We get to keep those!  They won't change, although they may be embellished and exaggerated over time. but consider what might have been. You know, there is something to be said for in the finality of destroying the building.  Hear me out.  Too many other Churches are still standing, waiting their turn. Some to be sold, re-purposed as theaters, restaurants and businesses.  I couldn't imagine the St. Mary's building with a Marquis on it.  Or perhaps as a restaurant serving dinner for thirteen at a table where the main altar sat, or restrooms in place of the confessionals.  We don't have to endure the contamination or our memories by the future.


I went to St. Mary's on Saturday, parked my car and looked at the debris field.  There near the curb, next to where Mr. Bilbow gave bell-rope rides, I saw a small piece wood siding painted brown.  It was about 8 inches long and 3 1/2 inches wide.  I pick up that piece of wood and threw it in my car.  Perhaps I'll try and make a cross from it.  The church building is gone, but not MY piece, and I get to keep my memories as well.


I've become a sentimental old man. 


Sometimes you can find comfort in change.