Touring

Today I went on a guided tour of Columbus. I've lived here my whole life, so I didn't really need a guided tour of Columbus, but hey, it took up a couple of hours of the morning and we stopped at Cup O' Joe, so no complaints here. It's actually really helpful to me to know random facts about Columbus so I can parrot them to visitors and clients. Someone once told me the signs used in baseball for signaling base runs, etc, were developed in the 1800s at the Columbus School for the Deaf. Now, the park of that school has a replica of a Seurat painting made entirely of topiaries. Really.

Anyway, as I was sitting in the back of the van touring the city, I realized if I were to give the tour, my tour would be completely different than that of the tour guide. Instead of the proposed Scioto Mile plan, I saw the bike path where I rode past the Santa Maria with my aunt and her friends during a 27 mile bike ride. Rather than the once tallest building in the US, I thought of it as the building where Chris and I reconnected. I greedily remembered all the pages I explored at the Book Loft and how I used to fear getting lost in the maze of rooms and how I now welcome it. I grinned as we passed Helen Winnemore's, where my mom and I would explore the jewelry drawers. School field trips were brought to mind as the tour guide pointed out the Greek revival architecture of the Statehouse and modernistic Cosi. Near the Main Library, I noticed not this building made for learning, but the back of Egan Ryan funeral home where we have said goodbye to loved ones. And across the street, I didn't notice the insurance building, but rather pictured it as housing the huge nativity display it would house in a few months and has every year since I can remember.

All cities are made of history and buildings and legends, but each resident has their own story to tell within those city streets. That is what makes a simple city a hometown.