Day 568

Lilly and I always gain strength (at least I do) from this picture of my father standing in front of the Anoka DQ sometime around 1950. My folks had The Cottage Drive-In and added the Dairy Queen on the front when they acquired the franchise. We see the upper right photo every time we get off the elevator at Walker and it brings me peace.

Our home is filled with mementos, photos and other decorations just about everywhere you look. Like the picture of my father on the wall at Walker, they make me feel centered and surrounded by meaningful things. From treasures collected while traveling to artwork by Asher, each piece is placed or hung to be viewed and appreciated. Someone once told me that our home feels like a beautiful museum. I took that as a compliment and agreed with the idea. It is a museum of our life.

This evening, we were asked to attend a Cub Scout meeting to help with a badge the children are working towards. "Gizmos and Gadgets" happens to be the theme and our job is to chat about the difference between toys and everyday items back when we were young compared with today's technology. Right away, my mind started to churn!

Collecting our "show and tell" pieces was fun and thought-provoking. The items extended beyond my own childhood to include things from my parents and grandparents as well:

*Stereoscope

*Rug beater

*Crank phone

*Skates and a skate key

*Milk bottle

*Jacks

*Wooden Lincoln Logs

*Troll doll

These are all part of the sharing time. Hopefully, the Scouts will find our chat interesting...otherwise they might just take out their phones and Gameboys and hunt up some Pokémon! If nothing else, perhaps they will find a new respect for their own technology and toys. Seeing our display, they will wonder how we survived childhood!