Carousels, Velvet, and Rabbit Fur
The Harvey’s department store in Nashville, Tennessee, was not only the place to buy scouting uniforms; it was a children’s wonderland all year ’round. Harvey’s slogan was “It’s fun to shop at Harvey’s.” It was. Carousel horses stood in alcoves along the escalators. On the top floor was a full-sized carousel, which we called the merry-go-round. The only Jewish person I knew as a young child was the kind and fun man who operated the merry-go-round.
The stools and counter of the Monkey Bar snack bar were near the merry-go-round. A row of kiddie rides stood parallel to it. For ten cents, Steve and I could ride together in a jalopy that shook us from side to side. A cowboy statue sat on a bench nearby. You could sit beside him for free. I think Daddy liked to sit on the bench with the cowboy even more than we did.
We did lots of shopping at Harvey’s. My first Bible with both the Old and New Testaments came from the book department. It cost $1.00. The Beatles came to America in 1964. Mother took me to the record department to buy their 45 rpm single of “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” With my nine-year-old inexperience, I walked up to the counter and asked for “that record.” The clerk was amused but knew what I wanted.
Mother often shopped in the fabric department at Harvey’s. I remember going with her there to buy rabbit fur by the yard to trim the blue velveteen dress she was making for me. At home Mother cut and sewed the blue velveteen into a long-sleeved dress with a skirt that flared. She attached the white rabbit fur around the neck and the edges of the sleeves. It was a dream dress for a little girl.
My parents knew how to find inexpensive ways to give joy to their children, whether on a simple shopping trip or at the sewing machine. When my Daddy died, someone at the funeral home told me, “Your Daddy sure loved his children and grandchildren.” I knew that then, and I always had.
Family vacations to far away places are fun. So is putting up a big play structure in the backyard. However, it’s also fun to sit on a stoop, pull a wand out of a 99 cent bottle of bubbles, and see where they fly. What little thing can you do today to make each of your children (and grandchildren) feel loved?
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue,
but in deed and truth.
1 John 3:18, NASB
Good memories of simple times. Glad I’m old enough to remember some of those simple things, too, so that I can share those things with my kids. Sadly, with everything imaginable at kids fingertips these days, some of those simple things are “boring” to them. I was having a conversation, with a new parent recently, about how they weren’t sure the path they would take raising their children, nor how many they would have because of their age. They said, “Well, you know you DO live a different kind of lifestyle with your younger two because you’re older this go around.” Well, they were right, we do live differently with our younger two than we did with our older two….but, not because we are “older”…..because we choose to. When I look at my two kids, that live that simpler life, I can see the results. I think I will keep on living that simple life.