Einstein is said to have made the imaginative leap when he based his Theory of General Relativity on the notion that time (t) is just another dimension to go along with the three spatial dimensions (x, y, z).\u00a0 Space-time.\u00a0 When we talk about the where of a particle (or a person) we must also specify the when.<\/p>\n
So yesterday when I travelled back to the place where I was born, I would have to travel back in time to reach my place of origin (x, y, z, t = 0, 0, 0, 0).\u00a0 But Einstein also said that for matter time can only travel forward.\u00a0 But maybe the mind (or the soul) isn\u2019t composed of protons and electrons; leptons and hadrons.\u00a0 Because I had an uncanny feeling I had stepped back into an earlier era.<\/p>\n
After battling New York City traffic that defied belief, to attend a family funeral, I walked into the little Roman Catholic Church that I attended as a child and was transported into my past.\u00a0 Sure, a few little things had changed.\u00a0 They had freshened up the paint on the ceiling over the altar and on the bas relief stations of the cross but the stained-glass windows, the icons around the altar and the pews we sat in triggered memories that perfectly mirrored my surroundings.\u00a0 And then there were my cousins and their children and their children\u2019s children surrounding me with proof that the world I left behind decades ago still existed in a very human, very tenacious way.\u00a0 God said be fruitful and multiply.\u00a0 And we have.\u00a0 From a tiny family that set foot on this continent less than 150 years ago there are now a whole town\u2019s worth of descendants.<\/p>\n
And some of the latest additions were unknown to me by name.\u00a0 But just looking at their faces I could see the kinship.\u00a0 And in the middle of the Mass one of the youngest made such a noisy nuisance of himself that he forced his mother to retreat to the annex to return the ceremony to dignified order.\u00a0 But this outburst was of the very nature of the family.\u00a0 We are noisy, somewhat spoiled, sometimes rude but genuinely good natured and extremely funny people.\u00a0 And we do enjoy each other\u2019s company.\u00a0 Being surrounded by this small army of family felt so right.<\/p>\n
One of my cousins remarked that it was a pity that only such occasions rounded us all up together again.\u00a0 He spoke nostalgically about when we were all living within blocks of each other within the Italian ghetto that we all were now flocking to for this solemn occasion.\u00a0 He reminisced about the parties and get togethers we used to have on a regular basis; holidays, birthdays, weddings, graduations, births.\u00a0 But I reminded him that no one\u2019s grandchildren could hope to afford the multi-million-dollar price tags that now attached to the buildings in this once humble neighborhood.\u00a0 What young people could afford to buy houses here now? \u00a0\u00a0I kidded that we would have to buy a whole town somewhere in the middle of nowhere if we wanted to live together in this modern and expensive age.\u00a0 He ruefully nodded his head in agreement.<\/p>\n
Quickly the ceremony ended and we said our goodbyes.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t headed out east to the Long Island cemetery.\u00a0 I was headed north toward New England through the grid-lock of the outer boroughs and onto the highways beyond.\u00a0 But we made one stop before we headed home.\u00a0 There was an old time Italian Bakery that specialized in Italian pastries.\u00a0 They had sfogliatella riccia (seashell), coda d’aragosta (lobster tail) and various other pastries stuffed with cream that we would eat on Sunday nights when we were kids.\u00a0 The only problem with this wonderful store was the old woman who had run the counter.\u00a0 She was a sharp-tongued shrew who carped at everyone who entered the store.<\/p>\n
I entered the store today and found the shelves still lined with all those Italian delicacies.\u00a0 But now the store was run by a Chinese family that had bought the recipes for the pastries when they purchased the business.\u00a0 And thankfully the pastries were just the same!\u00a0 And even better, the young lady running the counter was entirely friendly and polite.\u00a0 A miracle!<\/p>\n
After too many hours I returned home with my small cache of desserts and told Camera Girl of my epic journey.\u00a0 We\u2019ll eat the cakes with our coffee this week.\u00a0 And that will remind me of what I learned.\u00a0 Einstein was wrong about not being able to go back in time.\u00a0 You can.\u00a0 What you can\u2019t do is go back to the same place.\u00a0 It\u2019s always different.\u00a0 But it can be worth the trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Einstein is said to have made the imaginative leap when he based his Theory of General Relativity on the notion that time (t) is just<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3366,818,1263,2860],"tags":[3341,83,1267,2341],"class_list":["post-32051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-reclaiming-the-family","tag-dunwich","tag-family","tag-photogs-corner","tag-traditional-family"],"yoast_head":"\n