SHI BLOGS TOO

Reminiscing

Today Ron and I were reminiscing over tuna sandwiches at lunch here at home. He remembered when he was about 6 years old and his Mom took him to The Bon Marche. He said they went to the basement there where they had the best tuna sandwich that he ever ate.

That got us started. He then mentioned that he could remember going to Ivars downtown Seattle when he was a kid with his whole family. It was his Dad's favorite place to eat. His family consisted of Dad, Mom, an older brother, older sister, himself, and younger sister.

His memories were from 60 years ago. Mine, as I began recalling them were from over 50 years ago.

I told him that I could not remember ever going out to eat like that with my family when I was young. There were seven of us siblings, four girls, three boys, and Dad and Mom!

What I did remember was our Sunday drives when we would pile into the Buick station wagon and go for long rides out in the country. Sometimes we would go visit a relative or sometimes just go for a scenic ride. Usually, my brothers would sit on one side of the car while my sisters and I sat on the other side. Most always the older ones sat in the seat while the younger ones rode clear in the back. They were more prone to stretch out and take naps back there. I was the middle child. Three older siblings(Duane, Gary, & Lorraine) and three younger siblings(Ellie, Jim, & Carol). I remember sitting on the seat somewhere towards the middle most always.

We would play a game where us girls on one side would watch out the windows and count all the animals on our side. My brothers would count all the animals on their side. Then when we would come to a church on 'our side' we would lose all of our animals and start all over again! I can remember it was most always great fun and kept us from quarreling amongst ourselves. Which we rarely did in the car back then.

Many times my two older brothers would not even be along for the rides. As they got older they would be off working jobs somewhere. It must have been a relief for us as my oldest brother was the biggest tease of all!

We always had pillows and blankets in the back end of the station wagon. I think that they had a permanent place there because our Mom always took us all to the Drive In movie on Wednesday nights back in Burton Township, Michigan.

In the summer time Mom would pack a big picnic lunch and take us all to the lake just about everyday. I think she probably did that to get us away from the house so that our Dad could get his sleep during the day. He worked the night shift and graveyard shift , operating a crane at the old Fisher Body shop in Flint, Michigan. He was a crane operator for Fisher Body for 35 years. He retired from that job when he was 60 years old.

As fate would have it...he died of a massive heart attack at age 61. Way too young.

My first memory of eating out in a restaurant came when I was 12 years old. My Aunt Tressa took me to Smith & Bridges downtown Flint, Michigan. There we ate on the Mezzanine floor restaurant, where I had my very first bowl of Chop Suey .