This Way To My Blog

This Way To My Blog

Thursday, February 22, 2018

A Very Special Flower

 
In the 50's when I was first married my husband drove a panel truck much like this one to make commercial refrigeration service calls for the company he worked for. He could drive it home in case a call came in, in the middle of the night and often one did. He was not supposed to use it for personal use. He wouldn't even drive it to the corner ice house to buy a loaf of bread. I loved to get dressed in my jeans and ride along with him on a service call but there was no seat for me on the passenger side so he improvised with a wooden crate. After our first daughter was born we added a straw laundry basket between us for her to sleep in as we delivered dry ice, carbonic gas, or he repaired an ice cream cabinet, soda fountain, or some other much needed equipment to keep a business operating. I would never go inside a business while he was working unless invited. Some customers were so glad to have him there at any hour to repair they would sometime invite me in or some would bring cotton candy, pop corn or some snack to the truck. He did some work for people who had commercial ice cream cabinets or some equipment in their den for parties. That would be mostly business owners homes. One man grew Orchids. He had a large building full of all kinds of Orchids with large water coolers to keep the air the correct mixture to grow the Orchids. The first time I went on a call there with my husband the owner took me on a tour through his business. After that when we would go there he would turn a card board box upside down and stick the little vials with water and an Orchid in each one into the box so they would not spill until we got home. We would have enough Orchids to give one to all our relatives. Back in those days not  just every woman  received an Orchid. They were a very special flower and the memories are special too.

5 comments:

jack69 said...

The rarity back then... Yes, so rare I had never actually seen an orchid until I was grown. That was so sweet and a great treat. There were and are some nice folks in this world. Thanks for that story, I love it.
I know you think of Mel a lot. Sherry and i talk about how similar you guys were to us and how fortunate we are.

Love you girl hope you are feeling GOOD!

Chatty Crone said...

What a beautiful and heartwarming story. You had a beautiful life with him. I never experienced anything like that. I think you are lucky. Seems like you were really and truly loved. That is something that not everyone experiences in their lifetime.

Hootin Anni said...

Heck, ladies don't get orchids much these days either. Well, let me put it this way...think brown thumb for me & orchids. lol

salemslot9 said...

you were a
very special woman then
and you are still
very special today Paula!

Paula said...

Thank you for the sweet comments.