Lately I've been thinking of things my parents 'always' did.

Lifesavers: my dad preferred the red and orange flavors so he always offered us the green and yellow ones. It was a long time before we figured it out.

When he asked us to get him a glass of ice water, he always said to fill the glass with ice cubes, add water, drain out the water and refill it so the ice cubes would 'settle.'

One time he told me to bring him the "Monkey Ward" catalog and even spelled Monkey for me so I could identify it. In case you're too young to remember, Monkey in that case is spelled M-O-N-T-G-O-M-E-R-Y.

We had solid stove burners and he made fried baloney for sandwiches directly on them. It was pretty greasy.

He put horseradish in V-8 juice and said "Now it's V-9."

He ate homemade chili with homemade bread every Saturday. The butter had to be cold out of the refrigerator so it would spread on the bread in chunks.

He had someone sew extensions on his bed sheets - the top sheets - so the the sheets could be pulled up further at night.

Took a Farberware percolator, coffee grounds, and cups on every trip, whether flying commercial or his own plane. They had their own little suitcase.

Typed everything - personal letters, checks, business letters - on an old Olivetti typewriter. He had two of them, one in Colorado and one at his condo in Arizona. For personal things, he typed "Love" and then signed it "Tom."

Now, don't be saying ahhhh, how sweet what a great man he must have been what wonderful memories you must have. Keep in mind some of this stuff was cumbersome and got old after awhile. It's funny now, and I'm more mellow about it than while it was going on.

Comments: