Smoking . Now THERE was a good idea. . . .
My dad smoked . A couple packs a day I think . An awful habit but I don't blame him for it . He grew up in the thirties and forties, back when they gave menthol cigarettes to school kids . "Why yes Billy , the answer IS five . Come get a cigarette". That was back when smoking was cool . Nobody died from it then . Cancer came later . Everybody smoked . Moms and dads, teaches and preachers. Our milkman smoked . Mom seemed to especially enjoy a smoke after he left . Weird to have a refrigerator in your bedroom I always thought . . .
We hated going to the store with dad . He burned through half a pack before we got to the end of the street. And what is it with smokers who get out of their car and light up for that 100' walk to the store entrance? Wouldn't want to get caught in all that fresh air and have a seizure or something. Dad would stand at the front doors and finish off his smoke before going in then stub it out in those ashtrays filled with sand. Of course this was after they said you couldn't smoke IN the store. I remember Nate the deli guy with a three foot ash hanging off his cigarette as he scooped potato salad in a container. I kept waiting but it never fell . Nate was a professional smoker .
Remember the smoking sections in the restaurants? I use the term "section" loosely . If people are smoking in a restaurant there is no "section". One place they put up a lattice wall between rows of tables. "Oh look honey! A lattice wall. Nothing will get through THERE". Dad smoked until the food came . He and the waitress' had this thing going where they wouldn't bring the food out until they saw he was stubbing out his third cigarette. And he'd light up as the last bite was down. But like I say, I don't blame him. Just how his generation was.
Sonnys Bar-B-Q. Now that was a place I didn't mind the smokers . It had a smoking section on the other side of a half wall .When the smoking section was full we'd sit NEXT to the wall so dad could stand up and lean over and breath from time to time. The food at Sonnys is awesome! What a good smell- all that meat smoking in the kitchen and the fries and garlic bread. Man .You sat inside at picnic tables topped with a red and white checked table cloth and the waitresses' called you 'Honey' , 'Darlin' or 'Sweetheart. They smoked too . That , was some good eatin'.
Sonnys changed a bit over the years. No more smoking except for the meat . They added a salad bar . For the women I guess . They got rid of the picnic benches in favor of padded seats . If you eat at Sonnys you HAVE padded seats ! They also started doing all you can eat and that's when I knew that God was real. They kept coming back and saying things like "Y'all want some more? " or "Yer not done yet are ya darlin'?" and I knew what the kings of old must have felt like when thinly veiled women fed them grapes as they reclined.
Of course I can't do that now . I'm trying to take better of myself these days so we stay away from the all you can eat. Well, it's probably that I don't have the money more than the health issue. We still go on occasion and I eat all I can and waddle out. About half way through I undo the belt and when I get to the car I pop the button and unzip. Ahhhh . I've had enough . I feel awful but it's a good awful . I like it but I'm worthless afterwords .
I was feeling this way the other day and got to thinking about another aspect of my life . I'm a little shallow and a lot selfish I think . If I had the money I'm afraid I'd consume all that the world has to offer and get fat and full and be worthless . Maybe why I never won the lottery . I want to believe I'd skip the big house to help a neighbor keep her small one . Instead of a new ride keep what I got and buy some used wheels to help a guy get to work . I could go on . I'm not against having stuff but having TOO much stuff. I'm afraid of not finding the line I'm not supposed to cross . I don't know why I'm thinking about this . I don't have much .
Well, since it's all I've got, maybe I should try being faithful with the small things. . . .
It wasn't just going to the store that was so bad. Remember dad's thing about warming up a cold car. We'd all pile in ready for dad to drop us off at school, church, the store or anywhere we'd be going and we'd sit five minutes (300 seconds) allowing the car warm up while he'd smoke. Most of the time he would forget to roll down his window the customary half inch. Breathing through our shirts didn't help. I ended up acting like I was tired and putting my head on my knees just to get a breath. My memory now is like someone was trying to suffocate me.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't we think about asking him not to do it?
A couple of years before he got cancer I mentioned about how much I didn't like the smoke. He acted surprised and asked why I never told him? Wow, communication, what a concept.
The smoking was nasty but it was a small price to pay to learn the qualities he exhibited everyday. At patience, quality of workmanship and seeing a project through to the end, he was the master teacher.
ReplyDeleteM