New Milford 1944

New Milford, 1944 My Favorite Time For Coming Home - Hayden Benjamin Aldrich

It is the month of July just after the hay has been cut in Wilmarths field. I get off the train about 1:00 in the morning. The town is peaceful and quiet, the library clock tolls (does it still work) the hour is a single bong. As I walk down back street with my sea bag slung over my shoulder I smell the fresh mown hay and I gaze up through those maple trees that are swaying their green foliage with that warm summers night breeze that is coming from the south. I see a heaven full of stars and a moon racing its way to nowhere through drifting white clouds. A feeling goes through me I wouldn’t trade for a million for. I know I am home and that’s worth a million to me. I want to stand there all night and enjoy what I’ve dreamed of for so long. I linger and finally walk slowly on down to the house. There’s a wire fence around the lawn where it never did grow; bet Dave put that up. And the grass is magnificently green from the shower you had that afternoon; guess I better mow it in the morning. I look the old homestead over; it looks pretty much the same and I start to reminisce but go up to the front door. Dave’s bike, he ought to leave that round on the back porch. The screen is locked so I go around to the back door and let the cat in with me. I snap the kitchen light on and there it is, the best kitchen in the world. I toss my bag in the dining room and go for the ice box but my appetite is gone so I just nibble a little, wash up and go to bed even though I’m not tired. I lay in bed between clean sheets for a change and do they feel and smell good.
I began to think about the best days of my life; home always does that to me ever since I’ve been away. I fall asleep quickly because after all I really was tired out.