Back to the hood

Sid was playing at his friend's place for a bit this afternoon, Seth was lounging on the couch watching tv...so I took the opportunity to run out and grab some fruits, veggies and beer. Yeah, yeah it doesn't really match but oh well. I needed a few lunch items for the boys and I wanted some beer since I'm heading over to the neighbor's once Sid goes to sleep to hang out with some ladies for a couple of hours. It's nice that Seth is old enough to stay here without me for short periods of time. He can step out the front door and call to me at her house so I'm quite comfortable.

Back to the story...

On my drive I listened to Pink: I'm Not Dead *which is fabulous by the way* and was flooded with memories as I made my approach to the grocery store. See, I was back in my childhood neighborhood. Back where I lived with Mom. I suppose if I'd grown in a very large city, I would have been in an "inner city" community. Lots of single parent/low income families. I've spoken here before about how diverse it was and also how much I've learned from the experience.

I drove into the parking lot of the store thinking about how it used to be a K-Mart store. My mother was a waitress. She worked in the K-Mart cafeteria for several years before she passed. She was a hard working woman who didn't have much but did what she could. We lived within walking distance...which totally rocked since we didn't have a car. My brother and I used to walk from our apartment building down to K-Mart for 2 things...to visit Mom, and to get a treat. In the centre of the store there was an ice-cream stand. They had the usual variety but that wasn't the attraction. It was the cotton candy. Mmm mmm pure sugar satisfaction for sure. These thoughts were in the forefront of my mind today.