Journaling:
In 1963, the summer after my father died, my mother, sister and I took a long trip across the western United States to “have memories that don’t involve your father,” as my mother told us. My recollections of this month-long vacation are sketchy because I was only eight at the time. But I had a strong memory of visiting some kind of Oriental garden with a really neat bridge. We had a photo of me and two of my cousins on the bridge. In mentioning this to my mother years later, she said, “Oh, that must have been San Francisco.” I didn’t even know we were ever in San Francisco!
So, one of the things I wanted to be sure to do when we were there in 2005 was to find, if possible, this elusive bridge from the memories of my childhood. When we took the bus tour of the highlights of the city, and drove past the Japanese Tea Garden in the Golden Gate Park, I felt sure we’d find it there.
After taking Danny to the SF airport on Tuesday morning, Chuck and I drove directly to the park and, because it was early, we were able to get into the Tea Garden without paying a fare. It was quiet and peaceful as we wandered down the paths. As we rounded each curve and corner, I held my breath until I saw it: the BRIDGE. It was still there! I started crying because it was a piece of my past, reclaimed.
After we returned home and I prepared to make a scrapbook page of this memory, I found out more information about the tea garden. The Japanese Tea Garden owes it’s beginnings to a small exhibit of the 1894 World's Fair Exposition at San Francisco. “My” bridge, the Drum Bridge, survives from the garden’s beginnings. It was 69 years old when I first visited it and 111 years old when I came the second time.

Supplies:
Basic Grey Black Tie (Blithe)
Scrap N Stuff (Asian Mist)
DCWV cardstock
alphas by Sonnets (Creative Imagination), Heidi Swapp Chipboard and Scenic Route chipboard
I hand cut the arrow using a MSWord template