at home, on fire

May. 11, 2007

Flashback Friday

Yesterday I tackled what I call the freezer room. It is aptly named as it has a 14 cubic foot freezer nestled at the back. I remember the day I received it (the freezer, not the room). The phone rang and when I answered, the man on the other end of the phone asked if I would be home all day as he needed to deliver my freezer. I hadn't ordered one, so I was shocked, and as I am a terribly honest person, I told him "I didn't order a freezer". His cool reply? "I know. I just want to know if you will be at home so we can deliver it to you." I told him I would be here.

Hanging up the phone, I wondered what I was going to do when the thing showed up and I couldn't pay. It wasn't half an hour before they were at my door, freezer in tow, with a booklet explaining what had been delivered. I reminded him once again that I didn't order a freezer and actually couldn't pay for it either. That was when he let me know it was a gift to us, from someone who must like us an awful lot. To this day we cannot prove who purchased it, though we have our suspicions. It sure has come in handy.

It got me thinking about memories ... good times. As I was cleaning out everything from the freezer room (successful clean sweep, I might add) I stumbled on a Rubbermaid bin that had not been unpacked since we left St.Thomas in 2004. When you move as often as we have, you tend to not unpack it all. Inside, among loose silverware, great 45's and full albums, I found a bag of things Neal and I saved from our days in school. Here are three photos I treasure ... The first is a picture of me in grade 12 or 13 (I can't remember exactly) doing my co-op at the St.Thomas-Elgin Art Gallery. I am polishing a piece for the weekend display, and the local paper took my picture. Nice bangs, eh? My jeans were so tight at the bottom I had to take them off inside out.

The next picture was also taken by the local newspaper, but I was in University at the time. I would get hired on as a Parks Worker each summer until I had my degree. This job was excellent. I remember again just how much I loved it right around this time of year ... and how I made about 10 cents more per hour than Neal did the summer I was engaged to him. I still like to remind him of that every now and again. My boots were way too big for me, but at that time, no one sold ladie's steel-toed anything. Funny. We often got caught asleep in the cab of the big, orange Sanford and Son truck while waiting for the water/fertilizer tank to fill. A hose would be put in the tank from an outside main; the whole process taking maybe 20 minutes. BUT, when we had to start work at 5am Mon, Wed and Friday, fallling asleep was just a tad too easy ...

My last picture was taken by a photographer at the University of Western Ontario, Brescia Ball. Neal and I had been together for about 5 months by this time (January) and by March we were engaged. It is a beautiful picture from 15 years ago now. How time flies.