JULY 30

Most of my early memories are not pleasant but they were all I had.  I remember a few different places where we lived, events that happened in those houses and I held on for dear life to each and every memory.  In my young mind, I construed and misconstrued them into something good and something positive, grateful for the few moments that I could carry with me into my new life.  Years later, when reunited with my real family, I learned just how accurate my memory was.

The first house that we lived in I can remember fairly clearly.  A corner store up the street from us was painted with an unusual red-and-white-striped theme on the exterior that I never forgot.  We went there quite a bit although I cannot fathom where we got the money.  In those days, you could find quite a few glass pop bottles lying around on lawns and sidewalks.  Small bottles were 2 cents and large bottles were 10 cents.  We could buy 3 black balls (stop giggling!  They were min-gob stoppers) for 1 penny so on a good day of hunting, we could get in a good haul of candy!  Just what a

poor family lacking in nutrition needed.  And we were way too young to be crossing that busy street.    http://www.treehugger.com/

http://www.bonbonsconnexion.com/

Many years later as a teen, I was riding the bus past a store that had that same red-and-white-striped pattern.  I became convinced that this was the same red-and-white store from my toddlerhood but had no way of knowing for sure.  There were a lot more privately-owned variety stores back then and very few chain stores so this store would have been one-of-a-kind.  A few years later, when I had met my real family again for the first time in 15 years, they told me about the various places where they had lived.  One of those places was right up the street from this store.  I could not believe that I had remembered!

I was by there on one of my rare outings about a year ago.  I need those trips down Memory Lane occasionally!  Anyway, this store is still there and still painted red and white.  The stripes are gone but, after more than 50 years, it's still there, as bright and vibrant as it was in my youth!  It is a lovely red brick building with the corner bricks painted white and now it is much more elegant but it's still my store!

Knowing that I had remembered accurately was exhilarating!  But it also meant that those 'other' memories were likely accurate, also.