MEMORIES


Today I went to see the movie Polar Express. The movie was quite good...a Christmas feel good movie... I've not read the book but plan to so I can compare it to the movie. The think about the movie for me was that it brought back some memories of my childhood. The movie looked like it was set sometime in the 50's or 60's. I was born in the late 50's so the whole atmosphere triggered some memories. There is a scene where wolves chase the train in the movie, we used to see wolves, fox, deer and occasionaly other wild animals at the farm where I was raised. The farm I grew up on had a railway going through it about 3/4 of the way back in the farm. I used to go for walks back to the woods and would have to cross the rail tracks. We were told not to play on the tracks, but we did. We would walk down the tracks a bit, I guess it was fun because it was forbidden as we were warned we could get a foot caught between the tracks and be hit by a train. We also used to put pennies on the tracks so that they would be flattened by passing trains...we were told not to do this as it could cause a derailment. Funny what you remember.

The whole feel of the movie brought back strange memories of Christmas at my Grandmother's as the style of the living room was similar. And how at the age of 5 to 10 you really love Christmas. How I got the Dr. Ben Casey doll I wanted and how toys were much simpler then, train sets, farm sets, building blocks etc. And I was the strange son for wanting dolls because I was a boy. I had my GI Joe and Ben Casey dolls.

It also brought back some strange memories...the day JFK was killed; I was in grade one and watching educational TV, which was interrupted. I also remembered my earliest memory of my mother coming home from the hospital after the birth of my youngest brother. But she came home alone as my brother was premature and had to stay in the hospital for several months. Funny how something can bring back such memories but so sweet.




Vince Edwards who played Dr. Ben Casey on the TV series...was it really an interest in dolls or just men?