the_lucas•1mo agoProlific Poster

Never realized how much a building's layout could change until I visited my old elementary school 20 years later

I went back to my old elementary school in Portland for a community event last month, and the whole front hallway felt tiny. When I was a kid, that hallway seemed massive, like you could fit a hundred kids in it. Turns out they actually DID renovate the entryway in 2012, cutting the width by 4 feet to add a security vestibule. I stood there trying to remember where the water fountain used to be, and it hit me that my memories of the space were way off. It's crazy how the same place can feel completely different just because your perspective changed. Has anyone else revisited an old building and had that weird disorienting feeling about the size or layout?

2 comments

2 Comments

victorhill1mo agoTop Commenter

The security vestibule thing is real - my old high school in Denver did the exact same thing and it threw me off for weeks trying to re-orient myself. Measure the hallway width with your feet next time you're there, it grounds the memory better than just looking around.

the_linda1mo ago

Wait, does the brain just shrink spaces down or something? Because even without renovations, my childhood bedroom felt way smaller when I saw it last year. It's kind of creepy how our memories lie to us about simple stuff like that.