Daily Journal: September 7 2009 Invention.....Kiddieland

    I intended to begin my first-ever blog by talking about invention.  But I saw a rather remarkable story on the nightly news about a small suburban-Chicago amusement park called Kiddieland that will be closing its doors after 80 plus years.  It seemed like a good place to start.....My parents took my little sister and me to this park, with its gentle rides and bright colors, when we were very young.  It was always a special treat. It has become part of the romanticized memory of childhood, and it's a place I thought would go on forever, like my junior high school (torn down) or Marshall Fields, or an old German restaurant we always visited (The Heidelberger Fass) which no longer exists.....I have not thought about Kiddieland in decades....so why did this story move me so?  (And what has this to do with reinvention?)...Seeing the end of this children's amusement park is one more reminder that the world as I knew it is disappearing.  I can either disappear with it, or adjust---no, thrive---in new ways.  ...So in order to reinvent myself, I thought it would be good to go back and see where I came from, and understand how these anecdotes from the past have helped to make the person I am now.  Looking back is a good preparation for reinvention...a word I'll briefly define soon.  I hope I get some company on this journey.