Thursday, April 30, 2009
Invitation...
I promised my next post would be about a great band - Eddie from Ohio, but I'm going to sneak a in quick post to say HI!! to all my McLean Facebook friends who may be dropping in here for the first time. Glad you stopped by, hope you'll read some of the old posts and leave a favorite Memory of McLean - a Great Place to Grow Up!! I know we'd all like hearing from you!!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Facebook Friends of McLean, Virginia
Facebook is an amazing place!! I can hardly call it a web site. It's a gathering place - guess that's why it's called a social network. At times I feel like my past and present are "Face to Facebook." I've found so many of my Langley friends and more are joining every day. Some I've known all my life and and all for most of my life!! So here's to each of you!! I see your faces, hear your voices and feel your spirits with me each time I log on!!
Thinking about the McLean members of Facebook, I decided it was time to resurrect my challenge to list the stores in Salona Village. Those of you who've been with me a while, go back and take another look at the old post and see what you can do. And to any new visitors....HELP!!! There is an old post that describes my "challenge."
Maybe one of the McLeanites new to this blog will step up to the challenge....some still live in the area and they can go check it out and tell us what's in Salona Village today. Remember.....I'm ONLY asking for the list of stores (in order) that were in the strip across from the Safeway - from left to right as you face the strip - Circa the late 60s. And don't forget - there is still that terrific prize waiting for the first one to get the list right!!!
Since we're talking about a shopping center, tell us what your favorite store was in Salona. For fun, include a memory or let us know why the store was/is your favorite.
I'll go first.....At different times in my life, my favorite store probably changed, but mostly it would have to be Mesmerelda's!! What a neat shop! There was always so much fun stuff to look at and occasionally buy for that special gift. I loved going in there!!
Here are a couple of other McLean shorts (not from Salona) that might trigger a memory in you.
Junior year at Langley, I worked at Eleanor's Town and Country in the Giant shopping center...(as did someone who recently joined Facebook...). The liquor store was next door and occasionally I was sent over there to get change. One day...TRUE STORY!!...Eleanor's window displays were being changed just as a man came out of the liquor store clutching the top of a small brown bag like he was holding a chicken by its neck. He saw the naked mannequins, his eyes got big and as he swaggered by, he chucked his bag into the trash can and kept going as if nothing had happened. I told the story at the dinner table that night and all my Dad said was that I was not to go in the liquor store any more! I thought it was funny....guess his sense of humor switch was not on. All he could see was his little girl in a liquor store and what would people think!! (I was only 16 and could probably have passed for a couple of years younger.)
How funny it is today to think about what folks thought of liquor stores back then. Fathers are protective of their "little" girls, but maybe some of Dad's attitude came from running liquor in southwestern VA during prohibition...but that's really another story!!
The summer after my freshman or sophomore year at VA Tech, I convinced my Mom to get me a bottle of rum. We went into that same liquor store, which still had a counter with a clerk who got what you wanted - no self serve. Mom asked for the rum...but was stumped when the man asked her what kind....she turned to me and inquired, "What kind?" You know how the rest of that story goes....the funny part was that it was her first time in a liquor store. Teachers weren't real people - it was not "appropriate" for her to be seen in a liquor store. We never went anywhere without hearing some young person call "Mrs. Parker....Mrs. Parker...." She may have slipped in and out of the liquor store that day without being "caught," but, I'll always remember it with a chuckle.
I look forward to hearing your stories!!
Thinking about the McLean members of Facebook, I decided it was time to resurrect my challenge to list the stores in Salona Village. Those of you who've been with me a while, go back and take another look at the old post and see what you can do. And to any new visitors....HELP!!! There is an old post that describes my "challenge."
Maybe one of the McLeanites new to this blog will step up to the challenge....some still live in the area and they can go check it out and tell us what's in Salona Village today. Remember.....I'm ONLY asking for the list of stores (in order) that were in the strip across from the Safeway - from left to right as you face the strip - Circa the late 60s. And don't forget - there is still that terrific prize waiting for the first one to get the list right!!!
Since we're talking about a shopping center, tell us what your favorite store was in Salona. For fun, include a memory or let us know why the store was/is your favorite.
I'll go first.....At different times in my life, my favorite store probably changed, but mostly it would have to be Mesmerelda's!! What a neat shop! There was always so much fun stuff to look at and occasionally buy for that special gift. I loved going in there!!
Here are a couple of other McLean shorts (not from Salona) that might trigger a memory in you.
Junior year at Langley, I worked at Eleanor's Town and Country in the Giant shopping center...(as did someone who recently joined Facebook...). The liquor store was next door and occasionally I was sent over there to get change. One day...TRUE STORY!!...Eleanor's window displays were being changed just as a man came out of the liquor store clutching the top of a small brown bag like he was holding a chicken by its neck. He saw the naked mannequins, his eyes got big and as he swaggered by, he chucked his bag into the trash can and kept going as if nothing had happened. I told the story at the dinner table that night and all my Dad said was that I was not to go in the liquor store any more! I thought it was funny....guess his sense of humor switch was not on. All he could see was his little girl in a liquor store and what would people think!! (I was only 16 and could probably have passed for a couple of years younger.)
How funny it is today to think about what folks thought of liquor stores back then. Fathers are protective of their "little" girls, but maybe some of Dad's attitude came from running liquor in southwestern VA during prohibition...but that's really another story!!
The summer after my freshman or sophomore year at VA Tech, I convinced my Mom to get me a bottle of rum. We went into that same liquor store, which still had a counter with a clerk who got what you wanted - no self serve. Mom asked for the rum...but was stumped when the man asked her what kind....she turned to me and inquired, "What kind?" You know how the rest of that story goes....the funny part was that it was her first time in a liquor store. Teachers weren't real people - it was not "appropriate" for her to be seen in a liquor store. We never went anywhere without hearing some young person call "Mrs. Parker....Mrs. Parker...." She may have slipped in and out of the liquor store that day without being "caught," but, I'll always remember it with a chuckle.
I look forward to hearing your stories!!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Earth Day - April 22, 1970 - 2009
Earth Day - Who Knew?
Another reason living in McLean was cool was that we adjoined Washington DC. We were a small town, with a small town feel and comfort, and yet, nearly on top of the city that is home to the head of the free world.
Perhaps these juxtapositions went unnoticed in 1970, but maybe that's because we participated. So "NIMBY" became "RIMBY," Right In My Back Yard. And, for a number of us that was true. I probably lived as close to DC as I did to downtown McLean, which I think was 3 miles.
On April 22, 1970 I think we planted trees and some went to the rally in DC, and we talked about ecology, and had great dreams of a clean future.
Created by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, Earth Day was a (shall I really say it...) grass roots organization. After living through big, polluting cars and combustible rivers (Cuyahoga River caught fire 10 times in the 1960s), we thought it was time to take action. So high schools, elementary schools, mothers, and others began making changes. Main Street, USA became involved. There were rallies, speakers, and small groups nationwide that realized and told us that we needed to reevaluate our relationship with Mother Earth.
Conservation was the topic of conversation - save the trees!!!
"Conserve Water, Shower with a Friend!"
The first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, came in my Senior year at Langley HS in McLean. And although I was too shy to participate in many school activities, I did go to DC.
In the decade that followed people began trying to take action. By the end of 1970 the EPA was created. The Clean Air Act had modifications. The Superfund was established to clean us toxic waste. The 20 million people who participated in 1970 just got the ball rolling. According to the Earth Day Network, More than 1 BILLION people world-wide will be involved in some way with Earth Day 2009. (The Earth Day Network is located at 1616 P St. NW, Washington DC.)
We now have Green Products of all kinds, Green Homes, Green Schools and a Green Network on TV. Even your grandmother talks about Global Warming and Sustainability.
I am not going to make this controversial and discuss the pros and cons of who's doing or not doing what. I just want to Remember that Day in 1970 and know that it changed the way I live.
I am lucky to live in another wonderful community where Green is really important to almost everyone, and a frequent topic of conversation in relation to construction of homes and schools, water runoff, and preservation of local creeks. Reusable shopping bags are commonplace in grocery stores. And one of the latest projects is planting Sequoias in Blacksburg. It has been proven that they will live here and there are some up for adoption to be relocated to proper environments and cared for by local residents.
We all know that we're just custodians of the earth, we should do a good job and leave it better than when we arrived.
Happy Earth Day!!!
Do something good for the earth.
Do something good for yourself!!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Virginia Tech - April 16, 2007
Forever emblazoned in our minds and hearts are the 32 joys lost that day - the sons and daughters, mothers and fathers and Hokie brothers and sisters I wish I had known and that will always be a part of me.
It may sound trite, but the thought of them is often in my mind and never out of my heart. It was two years ago yesterday that their spirits, mostly known only to family and friends, were introduced to the world.
The complexities and subtleties of the emotions of families, friends and strangers, will never be fully exposed. For each it is personal, but for all it is universal.
Until that day, I knew not a one, yet now I am allowed to know them by name, face and sometimes by their dreams and passions. And yet, I feel that is presumptuous - presumptuous to the parents who say "You did not know my child," or to the wife who might think "You can't know what my husband felt." And they are right...I, and the millions of others who express their sadness, have no right to claim any intimacy with their loved ones. But we, especially those of us who live in Blacksburg and are fellow Hokies, have been given so much and let in far enough to their worlds that we do feel a sense of personal loss.
This is part of the complexity - not knowing the individual, but feeling their loss. When one life is lost, it should be personal to the world. Yet it is perhaps the most private of experiences. And, until yesterday, I thought I was allowed to feel it more personally because I live in Blacksburg and April 16th happened in my backyard. But the memorial events and the exhibits of art and letters spread across multiple Blacksburg and Virginia Tech venues shook me a bit reminding me that loss is far-reaching, sometimes much more than we realize.
The family and friends of those lost have every right to want to hold their feelings close, but that day and the 2 years that have followed, introduced 32 individual spirits to the world. We have embraced them, felt love, sadness, beauty, awe and honor to have shared in this very private loss. Is is with the greatest respect I thank all who have allowed me this privilege.
Like love, grief has no limits. It is felt and expressed not asking for anything in return.
We acknowledge it but do not comprehend it, we accept it but do not want to, and we experience it personally and communally.
I write this, not just to give life to my feelings, but to remind all of the fragility of life and strength with which we must live it. We realize how personal it is and yet should not forget that one life, each life, is a pebble tossed in a pond that ripples endlessly.
Be kind, show compassion, and express love as often as you can. I know there are 32 souls and a world who would be happier if you did.
Thank You for allowing me to take this space to share a moment in my life.
And to those who think life is but a set of moments strung together, don't be so short-sighted not to realize how far one life can reach. Thirty-two lives have touched the corners of this earth, been seen by the heavens and found a home in my heart.
In closing, I quote a hauntingly beautiful song played at the Convocation in Blacksburg April 17th 2007.
Walk humbly, son
Walk humbly, now
And cherish every step
For a life well spent
On this earth we're lent
Will be marked by the void you have left.
From "Walk Humbly Son"
[Personal thanks to McLeanites "Eddie from Ohio" for use of their song "Walk Humbly Son" (credits to Michael Clem, J. Fish Music/ASCAP). Look for an upcoming post on "Eddie From Ohio" and visit their website at http://www.efohio.com/]
It may sound trite, but the thought of them is often in my mind and never out of my heart. It was two years ago yesterday that their spirits, mostly known only to family and friends, were introduced to the world.
The complexities and subtleties of the emotions of families, friends and strangers, will never be fully exposed. For each it is personal, but for all it is universal.
Until that day, I knew not a one, yet now I am allowed to know them by name, face and sometimes by their dreams and passions. And yet, I feel that is presumptuous - presumptuous to the parents who say "You did not know my child," or to the wife who might think "You can't know what my husband felt." And they are right...I, and the millions of others who express their sadness, have no right to claim any intimacy with their loved ones. But we, especially those of us who live in Blacksburg and are fellow Hokies, have been given so much and let in far enough to their worlds that we do feel a sense of personal loss.
This is part of the complexity - not knowing the individual, but feeling their loss. When one life is lost, it should be personal to the world. Yet it is perhaps the most private of experiences. And, until yesterday, I thought I was allowed to feel it more personally because I live in Blacksburg and April 16th happened in my backyard. But the memorial events and the exhibits of art and letters spread across multiple Blacksburg and Virginia Tech venues shook me a bit reminding me that loss is far-reaching, sometimes much more than we realize.
The family and friends of those lost have every right to want to hold their feelings close, but that day and the 2 years that have followed, introduced 32 individual spirits to the world. We have embraced them, felt love, sadness, beauty, awe and honor to have shared in this very private loss. Is is with the greatest respect I thank all who have allowed me this privilege.
Like love, grief has no limits. It is felt and expressed not asking for anything in return.
We acknowledge it but do not comprehend it, we accept it but do not want to, and we experience it personally and communally.
I write this, not just to give life to my feelings, but to remind all of the fragility of life and strength with which we must live it. We realize how personal it is and yet should not forget that one life, each life, is a pebble tossed in a pond that ripples endlessly.
Be kind, show compassion, and express love as often as you can. I know there are 32 souls and a world who would be happier if you did.
Thank You for allowing me to take this space to share a moment in my life.
And to those who think life is but a set of moments strung together, don't be so short-sighted not to realize how far one life can reach. Thirty-two lives have touched the corners of this earth, been seen by the heavens and found a home in my heart.
In closing, I quote a hauntingly beautiful song played at the Convocation in Blacksburg April 17th 2007.
Walk humbly, son
Walk humbly, now
And cherish every step
For a life well spent
On this earth we're lent
Will be marked by the void you have left.
From "Walk Humbly Son"
[Personal thanks to McLeanites "Eddie from Ohio" for use of their song "Walk Humbly Son" (credits to Michael Clem, J. Fish Music/ASCAP). Look for an upcoming post on "Eddie From Ohio" and visit their website at http://www.efohio.com/]
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Easter Bonnets, Gardenias and School Shoes
I was thinking about what we did with the onset of spring. It brought Easter, wearing a hat to church (even when I was very little - especially when I was little!), shopping for new clothes and planning for summer vacation.
I remember having 2 hats - one that looked like it was lace or crocheted thread, almost helmet-shaped, with a small brim, and the iconic girls' white hat with a navy blue ribbon, bow in the back and streamers. That hat was okay, but the white lace helmet felt like it had been coated with glue and stuck on a bowl until it dried forming a perfect large grapefruit rind that I had to force onto my head. It had something that poked my ears like needles and no matter how much I fidgeted, I was going to have to wear that ^%$&* hat!!
Every Easter, my dad would get my mother and me corsages - gardenias, always gardenias - and to this day, I can smell a gardenia if I just think about one. I still love their unmistakably sweet, pungent aroma. I have tried to grow them several times without success, so the memory is all the more precious. And it overshadows the wearing of that porcupine some salesperson convinced my mother was a hat!!
Those who know me well enough will appreciate this next story. One spring, my mother bought me 3 beautiful new pairs of shoes - each costing $15 - a lot in the mid-1960s!! Who knew that it would be the same summer my feet would take a growth spurt from little girl's shoe sizes into the size 4 of a "grownup," which they still are to this day!! But I remember the celebration and cheers I got from my friends that I had graduated to shoe sizes they'd been wearing for years!! And I must have been in my 40s before I stopped hearing my mother remind me that I only wore each pair once!! What was nearly traumatic then, makes me smile today. How different 30 years of experiences places on our perspective in life.
That wasn't the only challenging shoe episode I managed to survive. One day, as I walked up the wide promenade into Langley HS, I felt a slight, but obvious limp in my gait. When I looked down, to my great horror I was wearing 2 different shoes...one blue and one green, with different heal heights. Today I might think it funny enough to keep going (Not!), but then, the embarrassment would have been more than I could endure for a whole school day thinking that all 1600 students' 3200 eyes were concentrated on MY feet!!! I went directly to the office, called my mom who was teaching at Cooper and begged her to bring me the car so that I could go home and get matching shoes - at that point I think any two shoes that were at least the same color would have been better. My sweet mom got the principal to take her class and brought me the car, I ran her back down 193 to Cooper and managed to get home, get a pair of shoes and back before first period was over - and I know that Wayne Chester and my fellow Journalists on the staff of the newspaper thought I was just on a special story assignment......we got away with a lot in the mornings that year.
Spring in McLean brought warm beautiful days, new Madras shorts, laying in the grass visualizing cloud animals and engaging in conversations about which Beatle was our favorite - all very appropriate and important pursuits for a young girl.
The whole world should be so lucky as we were growing up in McLean!!
I remember having 2 hats - one that looked like it was lace or crocheted thread, almost helmet-shaped, with a small brim, and the iconic girls' white hat with a navy blue ribbon, bow in the back and streamers. That hat was okay, but the white lace helmet felt like it had been coated with glue and stuck on a bowl until it dried forming a perfect large grapefruit rind that I had to force onto my head. It had something that poked my ears like needles and no matter how much I fidgeted, I was going to have to wear that ^%$&* hat!!
Every Easter, my dad would get my mother and me corsages - gardenias, always gardenias - and to this day, I can smell a gardenia if I just think about one. I still love their unmistakably sweet, pungent aroma. I have tried to grow them several times without success, so the memory is all the more precious. And it overshadows the wearing of that porcupine some salesperson convinced my mother was a hat!!
Those who know me well enough will appreciate this next story. One spring, my mother bought me 3 beautiful new pairs of shoes - each costing $15 - a lot in the mid-1960s!! Who knew that it would be the same summer my feet would take a growth spurt from little girl's shoe sizes into the size 4 of a "grownup," which they still are to this day!! But I remember the celebration and cheers I got from my friends that I had graduated to shoe sizes they'd been wearing for years!! And I must have been in my 40s before I stopped hearing my mother remind me that I only wore each pair once!! What was nearly traumatic then, makes me smile today. How different 30 years of experiences places on our perspective in life.
That wasn't the only challenging shoe episode I managed to survive. One day, as I walked up the wide promenade into Langley HS, I felt a slight, but obvious limp in my gait. When I looked down, to my great horror I was wearing 2 different shoes...one blue and one green, with different heal heights. Today I might think it funny enough to keep going (Not!), but then, the embarrassment would have been more than I could endure for a whole school day thinking that all 1600 students' 3200 eyes were concentrated on MY feet!!! I went directly to the office, called my mom who was teaching at Cooper and begged her to bring me the car so that I could go home and get matching shoes - at that point I think any two shoes that were at least the same color would have been better. My sweet mom got the principal to take her class and brought me the car, I ran her back down 193 to Cooper and managed to get home, get a pair of shoes and back before first period was over - and I know that Wayne Chester and my fellow Journalists on the staff of the newspaper thought I was just on a special story assignment......we got away with a lot in the mornings that year.
Spring in McLean brought warm beautiful days, new Madras shorts, laying in the grass visualizing cloud animals and engaging in conversations about which Beatle was our favorite - all very appropriate and important pursuits for a young girl.
The whole world should be so lucky as we were growing up in McLean!!
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