Old Memories

July 11, 2007

I met Joe at the bowling alley again tonight for his Wednesday night bowling league (he bowled a 190 on his first game!). I got to go to his house and meet his mom afterward this time! I'd wanted to meet her last week after the league but she said she wasn't prepared for company.

Being 40 often enables -- or forces, I'm not sure which -- one to look at things much differently than you would have in the past. Joe's living arrangement with his mother is one such example. After he & his wife divorced and he retired from the Navy, he moved back to OKC from San Diego. He started a new job as a machinist for Wood Group and had planned to buy a house, but soon was hit with thousands of dollars in debt left over by his ex-wife. She is disabled and living on SSI and supporting their kids with the monthly child support she gets from Joe, so it was left up to Joe to pay off those debts. For years I have said that I wouldn't get involved with a guy who isn't financially stable (or who lives with his mother), but I've had to look at the big picture and realize that 1) he didn't create those debts, and 2) he is taking the responsibility of paying them off just as quickly as possible. Therefore rose the necessity of him staying with his 64-year-old widowed mother until he can get on his feet.

They live down in the Del City area in a small brick house in an addition that has seen better days. Joe tells me that his mom and her 3rd husband, Charlie, bought and lived there up until Charlie died in 1999. It was a nice neighborhood, he says, when they first moved in. And now it is his mother's "home" and she doesn't want to leave.

Just being in the Mid-Del area brings back so many bad memories. Well, not really bad memories, but let’s just say I’m glad I moved out of that area. After work this Wednesday evening, I drove south on Lincoln Blvd. down Reno Ave., past Scott Street and Burk Drive where my ex-husband and I lived for 7 years. Those were dark years. The marriage was not a happy one, and the area was not the nicest of neighborhoods, but I endured for as long as I could.

Eastward down Reno I drove past a closed establishment called “city beach.” At that place once stood The Landing, a fairly nice restaurant that served things like pheasant, where Mike and I tried out once upon receiving a half-off coupon in the mail. I drove past Sunnylane and the Bingo Hall where Joe and his mom go, which used to be a church, I think. I drove past the convenience store which has changed names numerous times, where I would stop at for gas or a snack before driving to UCO in Edmond in the evenings. I had begun attending the University of Central Oklahoma in 1997 during the evenings while working during the day. In 1998 and 1999 I stayed home with 2-year-old Nathan during the day before going to class at night. We didn't have much money, and those were tough times. But I was determined to complete my Accounting degree as quickly as possible.

I drove past the 7-11 at Sooner Rd. where we stopped for gas on the way home from the hospital when I broke my left knee in a hit-&-run accident. That was November of 1996, and it's amazing I remember anything at all, I was so doped up with Demerol. I drove past My Baby Resale in that little Sooner Marketplace shopping center, where I used to buy many of Nathan’s clothes when he was a baby. I remember being there about 11:00 on a Saturday morning with Nathan. It was around his naptime, and he was tired and crying and VIOLENT to the point of hitting me because I wouldn’t let him play on the toys in there. He would get that way when he hadn’t had his nap. I drove past what is now Anthony’s TV & Appliance which used to be a Kmart, and a Venture before that. I drove past the car wash I used to frequent (I could wash my car for $3 --12 quarters!) and the YMCA around whose track I would walk during the evenings.

As I neared Air Depot, suddenly Heritage Park Mall was on my left. I took Nathan on his first trick-or-treat trip there; he was 5 years old and dressed as Superman. Mike had to work that night so he missed it (some things never change). I remember eating that night at the Chick-Fil-A inside the mall. I had always gotten my hair done at the Mastercuts down the way. For a time I had a booth at the craft mall which had been fashioned out of a department store which was no longer in business. I had hoped to make a little money while I wasn't working, but the venture proved unsuccessful. One day while Christmas shopping, I ran into Hunter, a classmate from Rose State, at Waldenbooks.

I made a right turn and headed south on Air Depot Blvd. to look for a place to pick up a quick dinner before meeting Joe at the bowling alley. I passed what used to be the Winchell’s where I had picked up a box of donuts to share with the office at MBSI the day I lost my job in 1995. About a block further down was the gym, All American Fitness Center, where I would work out at in the mornings. I’d go work out before Mike and Nathan were up and take my shower there because Mike would be in the shower by the time I got home, and if I waited for him, I’d be late to work.

Finally I stopped at Subway near 15th Street, across from the old Hobby Lobby I spent so much time in. And where was that Furr’s Cafeteria we’d go to? It was somewhere back behind the Kinko’s I’d frequent to fax letters and resumes when I was job hunting, or use the computer while I was a student at UCO. And ahhh, the old Checquers restaurant. Somewhat of a sports bar, the walls were hardwood and the interior had a bit of a musty smell. I do remember they had a good mushroom & swiss burger. Mike liked that place real well; also I remember eating there before an interview I had with International Environmental near Meridian and I-40. That place was old, dark, and cramped. I'm glad they never called me back.

After having my sandwich at Subway, I turned south again on Air Depot to 15th Street. On the corner, now a CVS Pharmacy, stands what was the Eckerd Drug I’d get prescriptions from and have pictures developed at. Westward on 15th, I passed Traub Elementary where Nathan’s first t-ball team had pictures taken. Further down toward Sooner Rd. was the recovered strip of land that was blown away by the May 3, 1999 tornadoes. Of course I drove past Sooner Rose Elementary, where Nathan went to kindergarten. I wonder if he even remembers it. Just west of Sooner Road on the left was a Wal Mart Supercenter. That’s new! Certainly wasn’t there when I moved out in November 2001. Then, just before underpassing I-40, was the old Mega Market, or Beachler’s IGA, depending on what time frame you’re talking about. Lots of grocery runs were made there – it was just so much closer than Crest Foods.

Finally I reached Sunny Lanes, the bowling alley. The old memories are behind me. Now there are new memories to be made.