Does anyone else remember having to "map" stories or thought processes in their high school English class? Well, my brain tends to function like one of those abstract spider-web maps. I will think or talk about one thing, and the next thing I know, I am reminded of something that appears totally unrelated. If one listens carefully they may or may not catch how I "wander" from one thought to another.

Running into that old friend from college a couple of days ago reminded me of our trip to Puebla, Mexico. One evening on that trip, our group ate at VIP's, a chain restaurant which also had a gift shop and bookstore attached. It was a tourist-oriented restaurant, and many of the books were in English. As I turned the pages of one book in that store, my eyes landed on a familiar sight. The book contained photographs of historic sites throughout the United States, and as I stared at a picture of what appeared to be an old store, it hit me... I had been there. Not just once, but several times. There, as a college student who was travelling in another country, summer vacations from my childhood flashed across the chalkboard of my mind.

I remembered stepping out the front door of my aunt and uncle's Cape house, beginning our walk to the Brewster Store. Many days, the walk seemed to take forever. We passed other cottages and homes, the smell of the bay following us inland. Once we reached Main Street, Rte 6A, we passed several bed and breakfasts. Finally, what seemed like an eternity later, we would reach the store. The highlight of our visits was buying penny candy. Fireballs, rock candy, salt-water-taffy... I felt like I was Laura Ingalls Wilder going into town. Stepping into the Brewster Store was travelling back to a bygone era.

I didn't purchase the book that day. I left it in the store in Puebla, Mexico While it was a touching coincidence, I knew I would rather take a photo of the store myself someday. It had been years since I had last stepped foot in that quaint shop. In fact, as my family drove from Michigan to Cape Cod, I had probably made it very clear that I would prefer taking a vacation to somewhere "fun", like Disney World or Cedar Point. How I took those "simple" family vacations for granted!

If you would like to step back in time, pay a visit to the little white general store with benches our front. Pick up some penny candy, and be sure to save some for your bicycle ride on the rail trail, day at Coast Guard or Nauset Beach, or a nature hike through the salt marshes. And if you're really brave and don't mind fielding questions from the young ones if they see two people of the same gender holding hands, it is worth the drive from Brewster to Provincetown to catch a whale-watching excursion into the Atlantic. Just don't feed fireballs (or anything else that might have survived the drive) to the whales.

Funny how one dinner out can bring back a lobster trap full of memories.