Memories Are Made of This

My Father-in-law was at a bowling tournament in Tulsa so Shelly and I decided to go meet her mother and go to a movie. We never quite made it to the movies but we had a great time anyway... at least, I did.

The morning started out with me making the final run of the season with the lawn mower. I hadn't mowed the back yard in over a month and with all the rain we've had the front lawn needed a touch-up even though I mowed it just last week. Our grass definitely reacts differently to the seasons because the neighbors' sodded yards haven't grown at all in the last two weeks. But, mine's still green for the most part.

About the time I finished that up, Shelly was just getting out of bed. She decided to take some of the clothes to Goodwill that she's had ready since shortly after we moved in. She's got this really cool program called It's Deductible that assigns a value to your donation and helps you with claiming tax deductions. The company gathers information from sales on e-bay for assigning fair-market values to your donated items. The program periodically updates the values so it's always current. It also works with Quicken and Turbo Tax to help you keep track of your deductions. Of course, it will work on its own and you can print the necessary tax forms straight from the program.

But, I digress...

There were a couple of boxes full of clothes on my side of the closet ready to donate so I started going through my stuff, too. By the time we were done, the value came out over $1,000.00. Once we got everything ready, we loaded it up into the car and headed for the Goodwill store/donation center in Tulsa. Yes, there's a Goodwill store in Stillwater but I think it would be weird to see someone else wearing my shirt.

When we were done, we called Shelly's mother and met her at the mall. Almost as soon as we got there, Shelly's dad called and was done bowling for the day. We headed back across town to the hotel. This was when it got interesting.

As we neared Oral Roberts University, which is just south of River Lanes where Shelly's dad was bowling, I asked where they were staying. "At the Days Inn. It's almost across the street from the bowling alley."

As we proceeded going South on Lewis, my mind started to wander back 18 years ago. When I was 18 or 19, I worked as a short-order cook on the weekends at a small hotel called University Inn. It was privately owned so I was sure it had probably changed hands and wondered if it was the Days Inn where my in-laws were staying. As we pulled in to the parking lot, I cheerfully announced, "How cool! I used to work here!"

The front desk now has a sliding glass window in front of it but it didn't appear much else had changed. The coffee shop was still where it had been, right off the lobby. I peeked in but the best I could tell was that the counter had been turned into a buffet. I'm looking online at the pictures as a write this and I'm checking out the old coffee shop. I can't tell if the grill is still there but the booths still line the back wall and I remember sitting in them, taking a moment to relax before starting the cleanup.

That was one of the best jobs I ever had in college. Even though I had to travel home from Stillwater every weekend and even though I had to be at work around 5:30am, I really enjoyed the people I worked with and the people I served. Maybe time has left me with only the good memories but I honestly don't recall ever having a bad day or dreading going to work.

I can still remember what I had for breakfast every morning. I would get up, throw a cup of milk, a banana, some sugar and an egg into the blender. I would drink that before going to work and that would hold me until about 10:00am when I would sit down and have a real breakfast. I usually went for the House Special. It was 2 eggs, 2 bacon or sausage, 2 pancakes and hash browns. I've only found one person since leaving there who can make hash browns "right."

One of the other things I remember is that the hotel didn't do a big business so about half of the hotel was actually an assisted living center. That meant that my regulars were there every weekend - they lived there. Let me introduce you to some of them...

Papa Seville - I don't think I ever learned his real name. Everyone just called him Papa. Papa didn't talk much, I think because he didn't speak English well. At any rate, he was somewhere around 100 years old (seriously!) and just did things his own way. I remember watching him one day break up a couple of graham crackers into a glass of milk and eat the mush.

Blanche and Mabel - Blanche and Mabel were roommates (I think) and always came to breakfast together. I want to say Blanche had been a school teacher but they were basically two sweet old ladies. The ordering of breakfast went the same every morning I was there and they graced my presence.
Blanche: "I'd like a small bowl, about a half a bowl of oats and some whole-wheat toast... Did I have an egg yesterday?"
Mabel: "I don't know."
Blanche: "I guess I better not, then."

Steven - I don't know if Steven lived there or not but he was usually there on the weekends. Steven was in his thirties, I'd guess, and appeared to be... simple-minded. Oh, he was smart enough but he seemed like the type of guy who would easily forget that he'd left the stove on. He was real easy going and always wore a camel-colored jacket and carried a bible.

Claude - Claude was a co-worker, not a resident. Claude was a big black man about the size of Aaron Neville. I didn't work with Claude much. He was the main cook and I was just a relief pitcher. He taught me most of what I know about cooking breakfast but I did manage to show him a thing or two.

Teresa Davidson - Teresa was the head waitress, supervisor, chief bottle washer... she was in charge. Her husband, Joe, and her son would come in quite often and have breakfast. Teresa was pregnant and I remember Joe saying that if it was a boy, he wanted to name him Harley. I got my first taste of what married life is really like that day. Teresa told Joe in no uncertain terms that if he was going to make her child's name a joke, he could just pack up now.

I don't miss the work but I'm glad the job provided me with so many warm memories. There are a couple more, but I'm keeping those to myself.