Mr. Fixit and I have a unique relationship. Even though we have only been together a year, we share our earliest childhood memories because we grew up in the same town, at the same time. We are a little over a year apart in age, yet we graduated high school together. We have a lot of conversations that start with…”Hey, do you remember…?” That is unusual unless you’ve been with someone forever. We were in very early grade school together, then my family moved from Parkersburg up to Vienna…the next little town upriver. We joined up again in high school and became the best of friends so, we have literally known each other just shy of fifty years, even though I remember him from 1959.

As we create this new life together, we are revisiting time-honored traditions we each enjoyed with our families growing up. Last night, we shared one of our favorites…driving around looking at Christmas lights. We started our day out going to church. Afterwards, we went to the old Dutch Pantry restaurant for lunch. Now, the Dutch Pantry opened in 1972…the year after we graduated from high school. And, much to Mr. FixIt’s disbelief, I have never eaten there. To celebrate their 45th year in business, the Dutch Pantry is serving four meal specials…at 1972 prices! We had a huge plate of melt-in-your-mouth pot roast over dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans for $2.45!!! It was SO good. Afterwards, we headed to the mall and walked around. I bought a red Christmas sweater for $11 and we went to our first movie together. When we came out, it was dark. We stopped at Rural King and bought cat food and litter, got a cold drink at McDonald’s, and headed to City Park to drive through and see the animated light displays.

One of my most treasured childhood memories was the one night during the holidays when we piled in Dad’s Oldsmobile and drove around to see the Christmas lights. The last stop was the most special. Robert Fankhauser…Dr. Bob…brought me into this world. (Back in the days when they held the baby upside down and smacked them on the butt! Can you imagine???) Dr. Fankauser had a big house on Grand Central Avenue…the main drag through Vienna. He always decorated with elaborate displays. Painted plywood cutouts of angels and carolers and Santa and Rudolph and Elves were the standard fare. But this one year, he made a rocket ship…a nod to the space age we were in. This first photo shows that rocket ship. There was music playing over loudspeakers and everyone drove slowly by with their windows down…ooooohing and ahhhhhhing over the beautiful decorations. It was truly magical.

I love creating new memories with this sweet man who shares so much of my past memories. It is so special and I t makes me smile. ❤️

“I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder,”
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:13‬ ‭ESV‬‬