The Keychain Of Life and Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I was a little girl, we did not have a lot of money for frills. We had enough for the staples needed to live a comfortable life. We had food, clothing, housing and love. I owned a few dolls, several books, a jump rope, chalk to draw a hopscotch on the pavement outside our house and rubber loose heels, we would throw on the hopscotch to show who was ahead of the jumping on the squares. Our dads got these heels from the shoemaker repair shop for a few cents and we thought we were so cool having them to throw to save our spot on the chalk hopscotch we had drawn on the pavement.

For entertainment, we went to the movies to see a current movie playing and that cost then about 25 cents. We walked there, we did not waste money on the streetcar and finally when they became out of style, the transit bus.

We walked to the dentist’s office, we walked to elementary school, we walked to a neighborhood restaurant called a delly and we did not eat out more than once a month because of finances. Everyone in the neighborhood did the same things. We owned one encyclopedia where we got the information we needed for homework and if that was not enough data; we walked to the Enoch Pratt Free Library and leaned over the big time encyclopedias that were not allowed to taken home on loan. They were there for everyone and anyone who came for knowledge to that building. It was first come, first served to be able to view the words and information.

Dad bought a car when I was fifteen, in those days called a used car. Now, they are called preowned cars. When he came riding home in that dark maroon Plymouth from the car dealer; we felt rich. When I was fourteen and we moved into an apartment, there was no air conditioning in homes. If you had some money, you bought a portable set and installed it into the window and imagined you were a rich person and this one air conditioner was supposed to cool the whole apartment, which it did not. However, it was sufficient to keep you cooler in those hot summer days. Mom cooked from scratch and baked from scratch and everything was homemade.

On Thursday afternoons, after she finished her work in the advertising firm she worked for; she would stop on her way home at a big supermarket and buy some delicious readymade salads like cole slaw, potato salad and even indulged in tuna fish salad. This gave her a reprieve of one or two nights of cooking for the four of us. She also on another day on the way home went to a bakery store who sold yesterday’s packed cupcakes, bread, rolls and muffins for half price. They were of course fresh for many days after, but in those days, you paid full price for today’s and half price for yesterday’s. Whereas now, they have a date to sell by on boxes of cupcakes or cookies or cakes and no reduction. I knew on each of these excursions of hers, one to the big supermarket called Schreiber’s and the other to the Wards bakery, exactly what time she would be home schlepping (carrying) those big exciting shopping bags full of commercial goodies. I walked up after school was over at about five p.m. and waited for the next bus to help mom schlep the filled up shopping bags.

Dad did his share too and once when I was about six, at the bottom of the bag full of goodies and we called them excitement, he bought me a small book printed in black and white and it was all about penguins. I loved that book and him for thinking of me when grocery shopping. Dad was ahead of his own time because money was short and he would go to the two supermarkets, one called Acme and one called Eddies and talk to the manager and ask how much money he could save if he bought one dozen cans of peas or carrots or whatever vegetable he desired at once and could he save some because he was buying in big lots. Now you have Sam’s Club, Costco, BJ’s and this is what they feature-buying in large quantities. So Dad was really smart to figure out buying big was saving big, probably two cents a can. In those days, people used a lot of canned goods to make soup and to use for vegetables. Frozen foods came about probably a few years later. Mom and I went to Mr.Friner’s grocery store and he had a big sign up stating they now had this new contraption called a freezer. We marveled at the ice accumulation on the freezer and the little boxes with frozen vegetables and fruits in them. One brand name was Birdseye and I found that a bit obnoxious thinking of a bird’s eye on a cold box. We bought six of them and then wondered, would they be as good or better or worse than the canned ones we were used to.

After dinner, we took our bath for the next day and sat around in our pajamas listening to the radio. No television until I was about fourteen and it was a beauty of a piece of furniture. A twelve or fifteen inch screen surrounded by a gorgeous walnut cabinet and the wood was from top to bottom at the floor level. We dusted the wood off several times a week and it really was a pretty addition to the room. One television for four people, not four televisions for four people was what everyone yearned for and succeeded in obtaining. We were happy with what we were able to have.

Whether it was a book on penguins when I was six or seven, going to a movie on the weekend, going to the library for the wealth of reading, eating at a delly once a month a hotdog on a roll and maybe an order of salted French fries, going to the salon to get your hair trimmed every now and then and owning a few toys and books and finally possessing our first television; wow, we were content.

Mom kept the house first and then the apartment looking as stylish and modern as she had the money to do it with. She had draperies different for the wintertime that were heavier and lighter ones for the summertime so the rooms would not be too hot. Dad in the house had a carpenter come in and build him a walk-in closet where he could store winter clothes in the summer and summer clothes in the winter so as not to clog up the regular bedroom closets. A neighbor up the street from the home was a carpenter and built the closet. It took many nights and weeks to do it and before he was finished, he had a terrible accident at his regular daily job. He cut off part of his finger; he came back a month later to us to finish the closet and I remember thinking, poor man when I looked at his bandaged finger. He went about his work cheerfully and he told me “kid, do not let things like this deter you; I will be fine even with the missing part of my finger. This is life and I am happy it was not worse.” Until today, I remember his name. It was Rosencrantz and many years later, there was a Broadway play with a name of Mr.Rosencrantz in its title. I told him one day those few years later, “see Mr.R. they named a play after your courageous battle in losing your finger.” He replied “I told you kid, nothing deters me.”

A simple statement from a carpenter stayed with me all these years. Let nothing deter you in your quest for good fortune, good times and good happenings. Sometimes, a setback is enough to engage you in more determination to continue on and to be prosperous, victorious and happy.

There is a saying: Winds of summer fields recollect the way, instinct picking up the key, dropped by memory. Memories of past times color our life, bring us maturity and remembering Mom baking from scratch chocolate chip cookies on a cold winter’s night while waiting for Dad to come home from work; these form the sweetness of our pasts and enhance our happiness in these times. These thoughts brighten up our winter days that have passed and lighten up the springtime on its way now. We think about the simple times then and relish the more complicated days now and we blend the two together for a delicious cake that we can cut up and each slice is a dear, departed memory that we bring to life again now. These thoughts light up our life and by remembering even tough times and it gives us the pleasure of loving what there is now and lets us appreciate what we have and have been blessed to still receive.

Mom took me to a dance school then called Ella L.Banks Dance Studio. There I learned for thirty minutes at four dollars per hour in a group class a bit of kind of ballroom dancing. It was just plain and basic waltz steps because young girls were supposed to learn about dancing because they might be asked to go to a prom in junior high school (now called middle school.) The course was a total cost of twenty dollars (a lot of money in those lean years) but Mom wanted me to have that learning and it lasted for ten weeks.

It was fun and is also a fine memory and I never lost that key or had to pick it up because by then I already was experiencing this love of dance, even at thirteen years of age. We of course walked to Ms. Banks School which was on the top floor of the main movie theatre we frequented called The Met. Coming home, we would think how lucky we were to be able to afford this extra activity.

The memory keys were not dropped or lost and still are clear, dear and exciting to this senior even now. Never forget your memories and relish and believe in them and know that they helped to make you the fine person you are now. Let these keys hang from your keychain of life and how sweet they are. They are as delightful as Mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies and even the day before cupcakes Mom brought home.