Sesame Street turned 45 this month. I came back to my alma mater for homecoming. With those two things in mind, I’m highlighting this photograph of Hillsborough Street in Raleigh for Throwback Thursday.

The photo above was taken in 2012 and at this angle, not much has changed. Planet Smoothie has become Insomnia Cookies.All the other business, some that are still there, some that are gone, look pretty much the same. If I were to take someone back in time to a place that’s been pretty consistent since I arrived on campus back in 2004, this would be that spot.

So what does this have to do with Sesame Street? Other than this being an excuse for me to drop a nod to both Sesame Workshop and the AV Club’s Sesame Street Week? Well, it’s a good way to think about returning to a place we’ve left before. If we grew up with Sesame Street, we remember the goodbye music (ok, if we grew up with it prior to 1991, because the older end credit music had much more melancholy in it).

That goodbye music, while signaling the weekend on the show, was just happy enough (especially at the end) to remind me that Monday was still coming and there would be more live Big Bird. And with the photo itself, even though things on Hillsborough are changing rapidly, this spot is still there and now there are cookies. (COOKIES, a nom, nom).

Ok, I’m done with my rambling thoughts on Sesame Street and Hillsborough Street. What street can you go back to, that gives you that feeling that nothing has changed, yet everything is changing?

This post is part of my participation in #NaBloPoMo, the time of the year when bloggers come together to pump out daily content and connect. Find out more about that project and how I’m participating, here and here.