Usually I like to have a nice beverage in the morning as I start my workday. This means I go to either Dunkies or Starbucks. I'm feeling a little under the weather this morning, so I decided to go to Starbucks to see if they had English Breakfast tea, which I really like. And they did! So I ordered a medium and was on my way. I got to work and wow: their English Breakfast tea is terrible. Not like my Twining's, which I have at home and a couple of bags here at work. Ugh. But I will power through! Thankfully I have some Dot's seasoned pretzels with me. In case you haven't tried them yet: they are AMAZING! No wonder the guy in the commercial orders a truckload!
So as I am drinking the terrible tea with the delicious pretzels, it took me back to when I was a kid in elementary school. As you already know, I was a strange kid but had a lot of compassion. Sometimes when I would go to a friend's house, they would be going to visit elderly relatives so I would go with them. I didn't mind. These were new people to me and I didn't mind listening to their stories and such. And they didn't seem to find it at all strange that a little brown girl was with their family. Oh, the olden days!
My best friend at the time was Susie Nolan, who lived around the corner from me. I would go with her to visit her two aunts, who were maybe 3 blocks away so we could walk or ride our bikes. The ladies had this big blue house filled with antiques and knick knacks. And maybe it smelled a bit like a museum but they let us play with the knick knacks and at the end of the visit they always gave us two quarters to go to Stewart's. We loved that!
Now to the crux of the memory. Susie's parents had a friend who lived a block or two away from them named Mrs. Hazelton. Sometimes we would visit her. She would always make us a cup of hot tea, and give us pretzel rods to go with it. It was the first time I had been introduced to pretzel rods, and I thought they were great! Sometimes in the summer I would go over without Susie, and we still would have a hot cup of tea and pretzel rods.
I really miss those days of such simple pleasures. I don't eat pretzel rods anymore, but I still enjoy hot tea. When Marie was in rehab and later the nursing home: I would also visit other elderly patients there. Sometimes old habits die hard! And I don't regret a single minute.
And just for the record: I miss the twenty-five cent ice cream cones from Stewart's too! But not as much as I miss Susie. We caught up on Facebook messenger when her brother Jack died a few years ago. That was heartbreaking, but it was good she is doing well.
Have a good Monday!
