Memories of Nyack

This is may be consider strange and odd but it’s a Nyack memory so here it is….

When we moved to Arizona in 1964, we bought an early 60’s green Chevy Impala station wagon. It seemed as if a station wagon was the car of choice for many families in this era. Maybe it’s because things were more family oriented than in later years when Camaros and Barracudas were the rage. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, my Uncle Jackie and Aunt Angie gave me a Chevelle station wagon too when I first came back to Nyack in 1974 so wagons have a special place in my heart. But back to the Impala; we placed a vinyl luggage carrier on the roof and put many of our items in there for the long trip out west. We loaded it up to the gills, zipped it up and went on our way to Arizona. When we got there, we emptied most of the contents, zipped it back up and threw it into a storage room attached to the house we moved into. After a few months I discovered it was in the back of the room covered with junk. I remember that I unzipped it and found a few toys in there that I’d played with in Nyack but there something else.…a smell, a kind of musky and very familiar smell to me. It shot straight into my brain and it relaxed me and it felt like my own personal time machine. It smelled like Nyack. It smelled like our house on 11 Maple St and I liked it. I don’t know how other than maybe the dust retained some mildew and such that it hit a part of my brain that sent me back home. It was like I could smell the leaves of the Fall in Nyack, our attic, our basement, and the neighborhood itself. We have such a dry air here that there isn’t really a recipe in Arizona to retain this I guess.

So anyway, I’d sneak into the storage room occasionally, lay my head inside this carrier, and take it in for a few minutes at a time for what seemed like a couple of years I guess. I do remember that I’d not spend too much time in there because I was afraid I’d use it all up. This was a something I did not want to lose. Then I realized the carrier was gone when we moved into another house. It must’ve been thrown out or given away during the move. That’s ok because maybe someone else inherited it and is using my time machine for themselves. I did go back to Nyack anyway and eventually my wife and I resigned ourselves to come back more often than we’ve ever done. So, it’s Fall and this is the reason I was thinking about it. I have only recently remembered these things that were well over 40 yrs ago. I’ll have to hang out in my storage room and see what else comes back!

kgb