Sylvester and me: Multiverse soulmates

I've spent the last month in downtown Seattle, the location where Raymond Quinn's story begins and ends. Arguably the entire story takes place in Seattle since Raymond has been dead for over 46 years. He and all the places he goes are in the multiverse.

On the pier in downtown Seattle waterfront is Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, a store that has existed in various forms since 1899. Ye Olde houses a collection of kitschy stuff designed to attract and appeal to tourists. It does this quite well having been in business for over 125 years.

I was first introduced to it as a 12-year-old kid on vacation with my parents during a brief visit to Seattle before we caught the ferry to Vancouver BC. The next time I was there, and multiple times since, first happened eight years later as a soldier just back from Vietnam, assigned to a self-propelled howitzer unit stationed at army base Ft. Lewis, just south of Tacoma. In there, both visits, and every time since, was the fellow you see pictured in this post. Sylvester. There's an interesting accounting of how Sylvester ended up on display in this glass box. You can read it here if you like. 

I was there this past Sunday, Sylvester was too. I looked at him thinking how little he's changed, how much I've changed in the 64 years since we first met. I wondered, is his soul is somewhere in the multiverse? If so, and mine is or one day will be, maybe we're connected. Physically we aren't, never were, couldn't be, but when it comes to our souls...

A few weeks ago, I quoted an excerpt from a poem by Laurence Binyon, "For The Fallen". It has a place here as well.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them." 

Sylvester is much older than me, however, age has not wearied him a single day. Now me on the other hand... 😑