A Stroll Down Memory Lane

There is a suburb not to far from where I lived called Oak Park. I hesitate to call it a suburb because it's really what I call an "urban-suburban" area. It's one of those areas that possess a lot of the qualities of an urban dwelling, but is classified as a suburb because it falls just outside the major metropolitan area.

I love Oak Park immensely. My reasons for loving this place so much are two fold. First, I love any area that can give me the best of both worlds (urban and suburban). Secondly, and more importantly, my grandparents lived in this area when I was a little girl. Some of my best childhood memories occurred in Oak Park.

It was not odd for my mom to take me to Oak Park during the summer months to spend the night with my grandparent who lived there. We would take the El into Oak Park early Saturday morning and meet my grandparent's at my grandfather's cigar shop which was just south of the El platform - literally just a few feet away. After my mom gave me a hug and kiss good bye my grandma and I would walk back to their place. Once we got there and I put my bag down I immediately went for my favorite toy - a miniature play dining room set complete with tiny dishes and cups. I would take the tiny dishes and cup out of the play curio cabinet and set the table for my faux dinner party that was set to start any minute. Oh, I could play for hours with that thing.

The next day we would walk to my grandfather's shop around lunch time and head over to the local diner just down the street. As I walked into the diner I would revel at how large the place was (or at least how large I thought it was). My grandma would have the same thing every time - a hamburger, medium rare and a chocolate phosphate. I had a hamburger as well. For the life of me I could not tell you what my grandpa ordered. After we ate, grandma and I would go in and out of the different shops until my mom came back to pick me up.

Ah, yes, I love to think about those days. Except for a few things, Oak Park is much different these days. Aside from our beloved diner, the last of the stores I was familiar with, back in the day, has gone under and now you will mostly find stores that try to play up the historic feel of their store space with the modern look of their decor.

My grandpa's cigar shop is now part of a local jewelry store and my beloved diner has shrunk by leaps and bound and sadly provides bad service which prevents me from dining there as often as I would like too. My grandparent's building look exactly the same from the outside, but I could not tell you how it compares inside. But all that doesn't stop me from remembering "the good ol' days" and smiling.

I do have to send a thank you to all my friends who hang out with me in that area and listen to me go on about the tales of yesteryear each time we are there. What can I say? I am a sentimental fool.

Until later . . .