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My Town

It was 'My Town' for 7 of the most                                                                                                                           developing and fruitful years of my life.                                                                                                                  Say what you will about 'My Town',                                                                                                                              but for me, it was a treasure trove.

For the first nearly 18 years of                                                                                                                                           my life, I had not travelled more                                                                                                                                  than 200 miles from home, a place
that never was really home to me.                                                                                                                                                      


The Eight years of residency in San Francisco                                                                                                          had its beauty and charm, but it does not compare                                                                                                          to 'My Town'. Inhaling its delta breezes, I have loved                                                                                               the feel of home in sunny Sacramento for some 35 years.                                                                                   I have sat and feasted from its many lessons, but no place                                                                                   has infused me with a pure grit and a sure faith like 'My Town'.

I had heard of its notoriety for corruption, violence, and crime,                                                                                  but as the big bus arrived in the windy city, I gazed at the skyline.                                                                               I, a shy and naive teenage country boy, quickly became well aware,                                                                           because my first lesson was learned within minutes of my arrival.

He, a clever and shrewd non-violent criminal, neither touched                                                                               nor frightened me.  And he, with his weapons of a smooth tongue                                                                      and lying lips, robbed me of $10.  He was so smooth that I never knew                                                                what had happened to me until my relative informed me on the way home.

'My Town' left me with memories for a life time. Why, the largest venue                                                            of my still young life took place in 'My Town'.  I attended and assisted in                                                                      a Billy Graham Crusade at The Mc Cormick Place.  Some fifty years ago,                                                                   I met the love of my life in 'My Town', and we are 48 years married and                                                    growing old together.  Oh, the memories are starting to flow like a river.
But I must cease with these last three.  My memory is over-charged with                                               encounters most enriching of the people of the night on Clark Street, of Old Town, and of my great job at Marshall Fields on State Street, a most super charged and unforgettable place with the sweet-flowing of people going here and there.

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Copyright © Curtis Johnson | Year Posted 2021

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