The good old days?

I was recently at Target picking up a few necessity items.  I was a little irritated that the lines were so long and they didn't have many cashiers open.  It got to be my turn and as I always do I said hi to the cashier and asked her how she was doing.  She didn't say a word back to me and didn't say anything through the entire transaction.  At the end I thanked her and told her to have a good day and she just nodded and started ringing up the next guest.  For whatever reason this triggered a flood of good memories about going to the grocery store with my Great Grandmother and my Aunt Sarah. You might find that odd, but let me explain. 

My Great Grandmother did most of her grocery shopping at a place called Fremont Grocery.  Right next to it was Fremont Pharmacy where she (and my entire family) got all of their prescriptions. This grocery store was a small corner store about a mile from her house. Even though it was very small it had all the general grocery items she needed.  There was a butcher, fresh produce, and of course limited selection of dry and canned goods.  The size really isn't the point though.  You see the moment we walked into Fremont Grocery, the owner and all the employees in their immediately greeted us by name.  "Good afternoon Mrs. Rowley, how are you today?"  They would all call me by name too.  The butcher knew what cuts of meet Great Grandma liked and how many pounds that she needed.  Everything was done for her and my family's individual needs.  This wasn't just great customer service either.  The people there truly cared about their customers.  They truly were interested and concerned about how we were all doing and vice versa.  If Great Grandma for some reason couldn't get to the store, they would bring her what she needed to the house.

The same was true at Fremont Pharmacy.  The pharmacist knew everyone by name.  They had a relationship with the doctors and were very experienced in the medical field.  You could actually go to the pharmacist for medical advice.  When you picked up a prescription the pharmacist would talk to you about it and let you know what needed to be done and also what to be cautious with, etc.  They truly care about their customers and their health. 

As I was walking out of that Target store and was having these thoughts I really missed the days of going to Fremont Grocery. All of the Targets and Wal Marts of the world have definitely given us everything that we could possibly need at our finger tips.  But to get this we have traded off people interacting and caring about each other.  Everybody is just a number or a dollar sign. There is no connection between the stores and their customers.  Sure there are some stores out there that provide great guest service.  But do they truly care about the people that are patronizing them at a deeper level than a friendly hi, how are you? I kind of doubt it.

Today, believe it or not Fremont Pharmacy still hangs on up in my home town of Stockton. My family still fills their prescriptions there.  Fremont Grocery closed, there is no way they could compete with the big box stores that moved into town. 

These have been some really random thoughts, I know.  I don't expect us to go back to shopping at corner grocery stores even though it is a very charming thought.  I do believe however that employees and patrons giving each other courteous greetings and having some genuine conversation would not hurt anyone. As a matter of fact it might even make somebody's day.  Even in a giant big box store.    

Poetry by Aunt Sarah

It's been almost a year since we lost Aunt Sarah.  I spent some time going through Sarah's photo and scrap albums while I was up visiting my family this past weekend.  It still isn't any easier for me to look through them.  I miss her so much.  Sarah not only was an inspiration to our entire family, but she also helped so many people in her life.  Countless numbers of blind kids grew up to be self sustaining independent adults because of the life skills she taught them.  She was living proof that there was nothing that they couldn't do. Not a lot of people realize this, but Sarah also wrote a lot. She wrote poems and stories, and also kept track through scrapbooks of all of the kids she was teaching.  I thought it would be a nice tribute to her to share some of these every once in a while on here, and today I am going to share one of her poems.  The title of this poem is "Take a Moment".  I hope you enjoy reading it. 

Think for a moment
What would life be
Without the help of someone
Who help the blind like me

Without the laugh of someone
Without the touch of a hand
Think what life would be
As you walk barefoot in the sand

What if there was no mobility
Or if there never was Braille
How could we write to each other
How could we keep on the trail

Life seems sometimes cruel
But life is dear and sweet
I thank you everyone
For keeping us on our feet
                               -Sarah Kate Rowley

Be back soon...

Hi everyone, I know it has been a while since I have posted an entry.  I've been pretty busy but I wanted to let you know that I did not disappear.  Look for a new blog post in the next couple of days!

Benefit or Curse?

I have a lot of energy.  I always have.  When I was a kid I always went to bed late and loved to stay busy doing as many things as I possibly could.  When I was a teen I would do crazy road trips where I would be up for 40 or more hours straight and never have a second thought about it.  People always used to tell me to enjoy it while I could because you won't have that kind of energy as you get older. 

Well, I am now approaching 35 years old.  Not only do I have as much energy as I did when I was kid, I think I actually have more.  I still have to be constantly on the move.  I can still stay up for extended periods of time without fatigue.  When most people are ready to call it a day, I want to keep going. 

I love that I have this kind of energy.  It helps confirm something that I have always believed which is that age is in the mind.  We only are as old as we think we are.  However, it does have a down side.  As I get older I am sleeping less.  My energy levels really spike at night so it makes it very difficult to go to sleep.  When I was young I would go to sleep about 11pm or 12 midnight.  Now, it is rare that I fall asleep before 2am. And if it wasn't for being introduced to melatonin supplements I would probably be getting even less sleep.  I don't feel tired during the day though.  I will admit that about once a month I crash, sleeping most of a day.  I guess my body just reenergizes itself monthly instead of nightly. 

So overall I guess I definitely look at the amount of energy I have as positive, with just a little curse on the side.  It would be nice to be able to fall asleep just an hour or two earlier than I normally do, or I just need to work on finding more things to do late at night lol. 

4th of July at Disneyland

I spent 4th of July at Disneyland of course.  All of the regular Disneyland traditions were back this year including the firework spectacular, decor on Main Street, and special entertainment.  Disneyland does a traditional flag retreat ceremony everyday, but for the 4th they did an extended ceremony with a performance by the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band and an extended tribute to all divisions of our armed forces.  New this year was a 4th of July pre-show to World of Color which was really awesome!  This will be another photo blog so sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the sights of Disneyland on the 4th of July. 

Happy 4th of July!

I want to wish everyone a wonderful and safe 4th of July!  I hope that everyone will have a chance to see fireworks somewhere.  Long Beach did a pre-4th of July fireworks show tonight and I was able to get some great pictures.  So today's post will be all of my photos from tonight.  Hope you enjoy!