Relics From Chesterfield Lane

Six years ago, after graduating from the University of Oregon, I packed my bags and headed north to the Portland Area. I moved into a large house with seven other guys Dustin, Justin, Brad, The Duck, Jon, Aaron and Anthony. About a month after I moved in Justin got married and left the house, I believe him and Jessica will be celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary this weekend. I have many fond and not so fond memories from the Chesterfield house including the alpine slide, trying to wrestle The Duck, Anthony asking a girl out that I brought over, Chris Hale (now Steele) using our laundry facilities, late night trips to Safeway with Aaron and sitting on a glass table in the basement. When we we vacated the residence in the fall of 2002 many things were thrown away, some followed me, Aaron, The Duck and Dustin to the Delaney residence and then onto to the Vermont residence with Aaron and I. Three items from the Chesterfield house followed me back to Eugene and have survived two moves since I came back. They are, a brown recliner chair, a poster and "the coke fund" jar.

The brown recliner was one of two matching recliners that sat in the front room at Chesterfield, I don't know what happened (sorry to interupt this blog but I need to mention that there is an annoying ant crawling across my keyboard right now and it's really starting to piss me off) to the other one, I think maybe The Duck took it. I never really used it much in Portland (I'm happy to announce that the ant is DEAD!!!) but since I moved back to Eugene (crap!! another one) it has become a personal favorite of mine. Many days after a long run I will sit in that chair with a bag of ice on one of my knees watching whatever is on TV. Sometimes I'll fall asleep in that chair after a long hard day of work. It's a great chair and I'll probably cry the day that I have to get rid of it.

(before I begin this paragraph I need to interupt one final time to inform you that the second ant is dead!!) The "Coke Fund" jar sat atop the mini fridge in the living room. When Justin moved out and took his fridge, the jar moved to the kitchen where it sat mostly unused for the remaining time. I really have no clue how I ended up with it but I have it now and don't plan on getting rid of it. It sits in a box in my closet now, I've thought about putting it out and renaming it "The Beer Fund" so whenever a friend comes over and drinks a beer they could contribute but I think I'll just leave it in a box never to be brought out again.

The final relic is my favorite of them all, the poster. I believe Justin found the poster at a garage sale, it has a picture of a rack of ball on a pool table and it reads "You don't need luck, you just need balls and a few good breaks". It sat in the basement at Chesterfield, it never got the prominant spot that it deserved. I think some roomates didn't find it appropriate. It finally got a prime spot on the wall when Aaron, Jared and I moved to Shadow Hills. I displayed it in my first apartment down here but since then it has sat in my closet. I'm contemplating wether or not to put it up at my new place.

While Chesterfield may be gone it is not forgotten. These three items will keep the memories alive for me for years to come.