Nostalgia by Chantal Bellehumeur On a cloudless Friday morning in July, Crystal Waters flew from Montreal to Toronto for an important business presentation. Rather than return home the same day, the short redhead decided to spend her weekend in the big city she often visited with her family as a child. Toronto had changed a lot since Crystal had been there twenty-four years ago. There were so many new high-rise buildings as well as new tourist attractions. She kind of missed the way the city used to be, yet figured it was probably her childhood she truly missed. She felt rather lost, but made the best of her short stay.
so she punched in the number and street name into the GPS App on her cell phone.
A woman’s robotic voice soon started giving Crystal directions which she followed.
As Crystal drove her rented dark blue Bonneville on the busy highway, listening to an oldies station on the radio, she smiled to herself. She remembered doing road trips with her parents and younger sister Melissa in the exact same type of car many years ago, and listening to the same genre of music that was now playing. Her father would drive while her mom held an unfolded paper map and gave out directions. Crystal and Melissa kept small plastic suitcases with things to occupy themselves with in the back seats. They usually had activity books with puzzles and coloring pages, but small toys too.
As she drove, Crystal thought about all the times her family had driven right by streets they were supposed to turn on during trips, and getting lost. Crystal really appreciated the GPS’s guidance. She could not live without it as it also informed her of nearby restaurants, gas stations, and other useful information. It took Crystal about an hour to arrive at the street she used to live on, and she did not get lost or worry about how to get back to her hotel afterwards.
Right before getting to the beginning of that street, Crystal passed by the grocery store she used to go to each weekend with her parents and remembered meeting the mascot of
The good memories inspired Crystal to drive by her childhood home in the suburb of Burlington. She had no idea how to get there, but she knew the address - 23 -
