What Did This Used To Be?

[Guest guest]

Last week, my sons were out of school on their Spring Break. On Friday, Isaac and I took a ride up to Bonham, TX. I don't like to travel very far alone in the shape I'm in if I can help it. I needed a copy of my birth certificate for my retirement application to TRS (Texas Teacher Retirement System), and thought, rightly, that it would be quicker just to go get it than to try and do it by mail. After we went into the county courthouse and I took care of my business, I drove slowly around the square, commenting on what businesses were still the same and which ones had changed. To my delight, I'm pleased to report that Bewley's Five and Dime Store is still there and still open for business. We ventured on down the street for a block, and I pointed out the storefront of my grandfather's old bakery (not the grandfather who raised me, but the other one). To my knowledge, no business has occupied that building since the bakery closed when I was a child and moved to another location. I parked the van, and expressed an interest in going into Wilshire's Furniture Store to look for barstools to match our kitchen chairs. I know such barstools exist, because I've seen them by the dozens before I started looking for them! Now, I can't find a one! Isaac rolled his eyes at my request, but went along to humor me. Well, the elderly proprietor of the store didn't have any, but could order them, he said. He peered closely into my face and asked who I was….obviously seeing some family resemblance. I told him, and he instantly named my father's name, as well as my half-brother's name…and asked if I knew them. I said I did, and explained my relation to them and many others….some still living, some long dead. He smiled broadly, and said, "I KNEW you looked like people I know very well! Welcome home! Where've you been keeping yourself?" After a very enjoyable little visit with the elderly man, Isaac and I took our leave. Isaac was more than ready to go, and plenty tired of all the reminiscing on my part. The dark, musty, tremendous familiarity of that old store was completely lost on him. Kids these days! As we left the store, Isaac, thinking me older than dirt itself, turned to me and asked, "And what did THAT store used to be when you were little?!" To his chagrin, I replied truthfully, with a poker face: "A furniture store." I could almost hear my grandparents laughing from the clouds that floated above us.

Love,

~LoneStarRose~ (~~)