Back before we ate out of dumpsters to survive, we were living the high life. Let me digress back to third grade. We were moving from Monroe, Louisiana to Valparaiso, Florida. This was one of 13 moves we made during my childhood. Enough said, it's not amazing that I now REFUSE to move even down the street. Need to have stability in my childrens' lives.
We made it to Florida and dad went off on a lot of business meetings, he was always gone. We stayed at a Holiday Inn when we first arrived to Florida that had an indoor pool. This was great! We could miss school since we weren't registered in Florida yet, so we swam all day! This was wonderful to us kids! The management of the hotel didn't like us too much as we always raided their mint dishes.
Dad would be gone for days at a time and finally one day he came home to the hotel, after one week of meetings and said, "I found us a house!!! Not only that, but I have us a new car!"
The car we arrived to Florida in was an old Impala that lurched forward uncontrollably every 12 feet. Back in the 70's we didn't HAVE to wear seatbelts unless you were in this Impala with all of us Rose people. Drive twelve feet, lurch forward 2 feet, etc. If you didn't have the antiquated seatbelt on you were going into the front windshield or the seat in front of you.
Imagine Kenny Rogers playing on the 8 track as we are lurching and breaking for 1,000 miles. It was loads of fun!
As an 8 year old I thought my dad was the greatest man on earth, so imagine my surprise when we walked out of the lobby of Holiday Inn that one day to a brand spanking new dark green cadillac?!?
Me and my three siblings all looked at eachother like it was a prank of some sort. Is this for real? Is this ours?
Our dad said, "Hop in! You will love the new house!"
We rode in the new car and marvelled at the buttons. We had never used a button to push our mom back and forth in her seat up front!
We finally pulled up to a house on the bay. It was beautiful. The entire frontside was mirrored windows. It was huge! Me and my siblings sat in the backseat of the brand spanking new car with our mouths agape.
I wondered, is this for real? Will I cheer and gasp only to be told, "no, honey, we're two houses down!"
I noticed even our mother didn't move. She sat stoically in the front seat of the new "caddy"; completely motionless.
My dad finally broke the ice and yelled out, "Welcome home, kids!"
How is this possible? Why are we living in this mansion on the water? And why are we arriving in a brand new Cadillac?
My dad obviously sensed our enthusiasm waning and so he swooped my mother out of the "caddy" and ran her across the threshold in a genuinely nauseating display of newlywed affection, yet they weren't newlyweds.
They were already in the house and we kids still sat in the car motionless. Allison had a passenger window, Jennifer had a passenger window, I was in the middle and Steve was crammed in the back window of the "caddy", by 1970's safety standards.
After a few minutes our dad came out trying to hustle us out of the car.
"Come on guys! This is great!" He bellowed way too much. "This is the new face of Apple!"
This was back when I was 8 or 9, so back in 1976. I never doubted and still do not doubt my dad is a brilliant man. As I am older I only wish he had stuck with his instincts. Had he done so, wow is all I can say.
I remember looking at Allison, who was the oldest, and wondering, "new face of Appple? Who the heck is Apple?"
She read my mind, shrugged her shoulders and got out of the brand spanking new caddy. We all followed.
(why are we the new face of Apple,....and who is Apple?)
Seriously, back in 1976, who could Apple be??
To be cont'd!
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