The Top 3 Reasons This Is A Great Time Of Year!
Is it time to go back to the Southwyck Mall in Toledo? Who doesn’t want to go to the mall, not to mention the Lion Store? I hate to break it to you, but they’re both closed. Sorry, but when I was a kid, I used to love this time of the year. Not because we got to go the mall, where we’d buy some new jeans and a nice shirt or two.
It wasn’t even because we got our annual pair of shoes. Keep in mind, these were not fancy shoes. They weren’t even tennis shoes. We didn’t call them tennis shoes until after high school. They were always gym shoes. This was appropriate since the only time that I wore them was in gym class. In most cases, because we lived on a farm, they were work boots and, as I got older, cowboy boots. (I know, it’s tough to picture, so here’s a sample circa 1985. Sadly, this is the last pair that I’ve owned. 🙁 )
But, I digress. To this day, I actually despise shopping. The real excitement, for me, was going out to eat. Sometimes, we even went to a restaurant other than Frisch’s Big Boy. I remember going to the Oak ‘n Bucket a time or two. The one that brings back the most vivid memories is the “Top of the Tower” in Toledo. From up there, you could see the river and everything! It’s not always about the food. When it isn’t, it’s about the experience of eating the food.
Maybe I dislike shopping because of all the times I used to walk in front on my dad. In those days he was a fast walker with long strides. Every once in awhile he’d clip the back of my heel and pop my shoe off. “If you’re going to walk in front of me, you’d better walk faster!” “Sorry Dad”. He likes shopping more these days. Maybe’s it’s because his strides aren’t quite as long. He says that he’s mellowed like a fine wine with age. We’ll leave that to someone else’s judgment. Regardless, the food was good.
The 3 Reasons This Is A Great Time Of Year
- Family Time – It’s always important to my family, but as summer comes to an end we’re focused on spending more time as a family.
- Clean Slates – If you were in school a while ago, you would have only used chalk on a blackboard. Those blackboards were thoroughly cleaned throughout the year, but I remember the first day of school how those boards looked as good as new. That matched my excitement for being there to learn and play with friends.
- Inspired to Have Hope – This is something that I took for granted growing up. I came from a great (big) family and never hand reason to want. There were, and are, many kids that came to school with the hope of a better life, the hope for a hot meal, or for hope of unconditional love.
What do you like about this time of year? I’m sure that there are more than three.
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