Where Was I When That Happened?

Did you hear that the fountain at Point Park in Pittsburgh opened back up?  Everyone is so excited about it, and there was all this hoopla and a big grand reopening celebration.  I would be more excited about it myself if I had ever been aware that the fountain had been shut down in the first place.

Where was I when that happened?  

See, I should have known about something like that.  I love that fountain.  Of course, I haven't actually been in Point Park in years, but I love the idea of Point Park and very much enjoy looking at it from afar.

I do remember the extended period of time when they shut down Point Park entirely for renovations, because they relocated all of the Three Rivers Arts Festival (one of the very few outdoor events I attend on a regular basis) to the heart of downtown Pittsburgh.  The concert acts were on that triangular strip of grass across from Fifth Avenue Place.  Familiar with Pittsburgh and still can't imagine it?  Well, it wasn't ideal and it wasn't pretty.

 

Is it because I no longer work downtown that I didn't know about the fountain?  That can't really be it because it turns out that the fountain closed four years ago, and I was still working downtown then. I mean, I still go downtown frequently, and I do notice things while I'm there.  Like all the new restaurants opening up - there seem to be new ones every time I'm there.  I mean where were the Nathan's and The Noodle Company and that little place with the Middle Eastern food when I was working there?  

Truth be told, I didn't always know what was going on downtown when I was there every day.  One day when I was still working in town my sister in North Carolina called me at work to ask if I was okay.  Sure, I was fine.  Why wouldn't I be, I asked her.  Seems there was a hostage situation and a gunman on the loose or something like that going on in Gateway Center.  She heard it on the national news.  I was blissfully unaware of this from my 18th floor office on Wood Street although I heard about it later on the news (and thankfully no one was hurt).

Which brings me to another point.  I watch the KDKA-TV news faithfully every morning, and sometimes even in the evening if there are no Toddlers and Tiaras reruns on.  They cover stuff that happens in Pittsburgh every day.  Sure, I tune in primarily to see Dennis Bowman and his weather forecast, but I listen to the rest of the broadcast, too. That's where I heard the fountain opened up again; they must have mentioned it when it closed.  Where was I when they said that??

Perhaps it's best this way.  I would have really missed the fountain if I had known it was gone.  I wish that I didn't know that they demolished the Civic Arena.