WEBSTER WATCH

"And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do." (Acts 15:36)

My friend David C. Milley once said, "God calls to people, not places !" I guess that's true, for the most part. So, with that in mind, he might have a problem with the verse I am using to begin this posting! The posting is about going to visit people, and today I went to visit a place. I moved out of Webster, MA on June 28 after having lived there for over fifteen months. I had not been back to Webster or even near Webster since moving, until today. When we first moved to Webster in March of 2011 I wondered if I'd ever feel sentimental about the duplex apartment or the community of Webster. We had lived in Framingham, in a circa 1890s single family house, for twenty-four years. Our kids had grown up in that house and that dwelling and community contained many (mostly) happy memories. I lived in Framingham longer than I'd lived anywhere else, although Canton, MA comes in at a very close second place. It was very hard to move out of Framingham. There was a lot of of sentimentality and emotion. I couldn't imagine that I'd ever feel anything like that for the new place in Webster.

Surprisingly, it wasn't long before Webster really began to "grow" on me. The other half of the duplex was an insurance agency office, so no one was there before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m. and no one was there on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays. In many respects it was like living in a single family home. The spot where we lived was peaceful and quiet. It was only a seven minute walk from the Webster Lake and Recreation area. On Sunday afternoons and other times off (usually Thursdays) I loved to walk through the Lake Recreation area. Farther down Thompson Road/Route 193 was a pleasant road with mostly former summer cottages all along the lake. Walking that longer route was SO pretty and SO peaceful! We also lived less than a ten minute walk from a Friendly's Restaurant (yes, a few of them still exist) and from several shopping plazas. Just two doors down was Lake Pizza and Restaurant. I love their pizza! In addition, the Webster Public Library was only a ten minute drive away and I spent a lot of my free time there. Finally, Webster has the most impressive Town Hall building and grounds anywhere in Massachusetts! No kidding! There are very impressive war memorial statues and the building itself is a great looking structure.

The duplex apartment had central air conditioning and was very modern. It was homey and comfortable and included a basement. We didn't have a dishwasher or garbage disposal. That I did not like! We also had no washer or dryer at the apartment, but there was a great coin operated laundry just a couple miles down the road. After fifteen months there, I was feeling almost as emotional and sentimental moving out in June 2012 as I had been in March of 2011 when we moved out of Framingham!

Today, it was a craving for a pizza from Lake Pizza and Restaurant that brought me back to Webster. Wow. To be in Webster "fast-forwarded" 6 months was strange! At the busy intersection of Main and Thompson, what had been two vacant lots (and one filled with debris back in June) were now construction sites. At one side, it looks like a bank building is almost done. At the other is an attractive modern shopping complex nearing completion. Down the road from where we lived, the bowling alley got a fresh coat of paint, and a defunct restaurant is being totally reconstructed. I was surprised to drive downtown and see that a number of vacant and dilapidated buildings had finally been torn down! On one lot was a sign stating it was the future site of the new Webster Police Headquarters. The present Webster Police Headquarters is located in offices in the Fire Department building just a tenth of a mile from where we lived and adjacent to the Webster Lake and Recreation Area. I liked having the cops so close by. One night when we lived there, there were two unsavory guys on the loose in the neighborhood. One had knocked on our door and tried to talk his way in- NO WAY that was going to happen! A few minutes later several police cars and a police wagon arrived (Someone ELSE in the neighborhood had called them) and took these guys off in handcuffs! I would have been a little disappointed the police were moving a couple of miles farther away, but that's life.

One thing I do not miss is the long drive from Webster to Framingham. It's 40 miles one way. Frankly, the gasoline and "ware & tare" on the cars was very tough. For 2012 I put 31,000 miles on my old Subaru. Had it not been for the June move to Canton, that would have been over 40,000! When I lived and worked in Framingham, I used to put less than 10,000 miles a year on the car that I mainly drove. Webster really is a pleasant place to live, but I just have never missed the drive! I also hated that the nearest TDBank to Webster was over 11 miles away in Auburn. In Canton, the bank is 2 miles down the road. I wondered if when I visited Webster I'd be sad and wish I still lived there. I loved visiting today and it brought back a lot of happy memories, but honestly, I don't wish I still lived there! The only way I'd ever want to live in Webster again (or in any similar semi-rural community which is "off the beaten path") is if I worked less than 5 miles from my residence.

Well, that was my Sunday afternoon and that was my Webster Watch!