Lost another one

Last fall I switched positions in the company that I work for, and now work in a totally different city than I did for the previous 3 years.  However, at my old location, once in a while I'd pop over to the local bowling alley after work just to get some time in.  It was an old center with 12 wood lanes, next door to a skating rink.  Certainly nothing fancy, you just came in there to either bowl or visit with friends.

Fast forward to yesterday, and most of my old team came down here for training, and we got to visit during breaks.  One of them asked me if I used to bowl in those lanes, and I affirmed that I did.  I guess the puzzlement showed on my face, because he let me know that between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there was a failure w/the propane tanks used to heat the place, and both it and the skating rink burned completely to the ground, and nothing was saved.

I'd talked to the owners a time or two, and knew that they were just barely making ends meet with the place, and it was only open from 6pm till 10pm on Monday thru Thursday (which was the days I worked).  I had asked that if they ever considered selling the place, or packing it in to let me know because I would have loved to have had some of the history out of the place.  That was literally the only place to bowl within a 40 mile radius within a very rural location, so it really was a holdout from when bowling was huge.  Were you going to see any of the newest equipment in the house?  No.  What I brought was probably the most recent equipment in the place, and everything I brought was 6-7 years old.  But you got that sense of history, and the people who bowled there had been bowling together for 40+ years.

I immediately took to Google, and saw the footage that one of the local news station captured.  Propane fueled fires are impressive.  The owners didn't have insurance enough to cover the costs of rebuilding, so the lights that once were will remain only in the memories, and the newfound emptiness on league night for those that called it 'their place.'

History comes in so many different packages, and every bit of it that fades is a loss for the future.  There is a story behind what has stood the test of time, weathering the elements and the neglect of those who were charged to maintain.  This is true for nature, true for buildings, and true for people.  Honor those stories, honor those people, learn from them in order to make our future better.