Saturday’s Are For Children, Memories Are For Boomers

Isn’t it interesting what we remember (and what we forget) about our childhood?

As a little boy, I would get  up at 0700on Saturday mornings to watch Davey and Goliath (click on the link to see my favorite episode) on the one, black and white TV in our house.

I remember being about 6 years old and going to the Hillside (NJ) Diner (no longer there) on a Saturday morning where a waitress named “Dolly”  served me my first Taylor Ham and cheese on a hard roll sandwich, sitting at the counter with my dad at my side. (My life was never the same after that). Saturdays back then usually included a trip to the “Pork Store” to buy some cold cuts/meats for the week.  I remember the sawdust on the wooden floor, the meats hanging from the ceiling and the smell of the big barrel of kosher pickles.  The pork store visit always included a slice of ham bologna for me to taste.  

When I was an early teenager, I would go with my dad every Saturday morning to Flanagans General Store where “the men” met and bonded.  Men with the last names of Keating, Lare, Pradke, Aulicky, Caldaro, Schechter, Hawthorne, Bock, McAleer, Weltman, Wilson, Streeton, Helmstetter, Flanagan, and Reagan (and I’ll probably remember a few more within a minute of hitting “publish”) became friends of mine because they were friends of my father. Many of them were my first teachers when I started what would be a 38-year stint in firefighting/emergency services. Most of them are gone, but I remain acquainted (thanks, FB) with many of their children, who like me, remember those great times. Oh, breakfast was always Taylor Ham and Cheese on a hard roll.  (Do real hard rolls even exist any longer?)

After breakfast and catching up on the local news, it was off to the outdoor police gun range at the quarry in Watchung, NJ.  I got good enough to where I shot competitively for the Warren team for one season when I was 17.

Life today wouldn’t be nearly as tolerable if not for the memories of yesterday.

And all those memories started flowing this morning when I heard this song on my mix.

Like Greg Kihn sang, “They just don’t write ’em like that anymore”

If you are old enough to be smiling now, be sure to read the description, under the video, describing Joplin’s performance at Woodstock.  The song is the studio version, but the video is from Woodstock.  Open the video in YouTube to see the description….remarkable.

Janis Joplin was one of a kind and the music world lost her too early.