Going back home…

We just returned from a trip back to my home town of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the course of 8 days, we drove about 1926 miles…or should I have said Gail drove 1926 miles. That’s right…Gail did her best to try to get me to relax some…more on that another time. Here are some of my random thoughts and observations during and after that trip…

  1. Wow, it is been a long time since I moved to away from South Milwaukee…1973…36 years.
  2. My parents house sure appears small…can’t believe 7 of us lived in that house…and it has only one bathroom!
  3. My parents are aging…both 83 years old…both in relatively good health.
  4. My Dad still has his beer can collection in his basement…over 1,000 cans of beer on shelves on the basement walls…most are full…except the old steel ones that rusted and sprung a leak. Dad doesn’t drink beer…he just likes to collect the cans.
  5. Summers are great in Milwaukee…average daily temp about 75 to 85. Winters are a much different story.
  6. I have two brothers and two sisters…I am the second oldest.  Does that qualify me for middle child syndrome?
  7. My younger sister is going to retire next year. What’s wrong with that picture?
  8. My older brother will turn 60 in a month…wow, he is old.
  9. My family still calls me “Kenny”.
  10. I can’t believe my brothers and I played football and baseball in that small backyard…it seems so small today, but was so large, back in the day.
  11. The five of us kids walked to and from school every day…fall, winter and spring…about 2 miles each way. Ask my children, they are tired of hearing the stories of the long walks in the winter snow.
  12. My Mom, never drove a car…she never felt it necessary to get her drivers license…relied on public transportation when needed…but most of the time she was our “stay at home Mom”…cooking, cleaning, washing clothes… and washing clothes cooking and cleaning.
  13. Dad has a single car detached garage which housed the family car…the 57 Plymouth…then the 58 Ford station wagon…the 62 Buick and those Buick every five years after that.
  14. Maybe that was why my first car was a 56 Buick Roadmaster…paid $25 for it…what a bargain. It sat for six months until I could afford insurance for it.
  15. We drove past the farm, where I had my first paying job…I was 12 years old…picked radishes and onions for a penny a bunch. It was called piece work back in those days. On a good day, I could make 90 cents an hour. Did you know that I spent 6 years working summers on a farm?
  16. Also went past the old church and school that we attended…St Johns Catholic Church…the original church and school no longer exists…a parking lot now. The church has combined with 4 other churches in the city due to declining membership…pretty sad situation.

A great trip…too fast…great to see family…much reminiscing…much has changed…much has remained the same…too many miles…GPS is great…now, need to buy new tires for Gail’s van.

ENJOY!