Eating Out and the Cherry Tree Story

I love to eat out, but I'm starting to get pickier every year.  The thought of not knowing who and what has been in and around my food sometimes grosses me out.  I'm always looking around the restaurant, at the floors, the ceilings, and I try my best to get a look or a listen at the kitchen.  Years ago I stopped going to the local Bakers' Square because the last time I was there the floor, tables, etc. were dirty.  A local KFC had the filthiest floors and I did something really bad...I went into the bathroom.  Disgusting.  I haven't been to that restaurant in about nine years.  Someone posted to Facebook yesterday a picture of a Taco Bell worker doing--well you can see for yourself:

I think that pretty much takes Taco Bell out of circulation.  My choices are getting slimmer and slimmer.  Once I get turned off to something, it's not likely to come back.

So yesterday I promised the cherry tree story.

One day my mom told my brother and I that we couldn't go outside.  Instead, we were supposed to be in our bedroom taking a nap.  We were about age 8 and 5 at the time and we did not agree with her decision.  We (he) got this idea that we could jump out of the window into the cherry tree and climb down.  This was one of those between first and second floor windows.  We lived in a bungalow, so there were about 8 steps up to the front door.  I guess that put us about 8 feet off the ground since we had to climb up to the windowsill.  He jumped first, since he was the oldest.  He didn't make it to the tree (about 6 feet away) but landed squarely in his bare feet on the ground below.  He decided that I should just jump into his arms.  I did.  We both fell but were still feeling good enough to play which is hard to understand because I remember that it hurt!  We ran into the back yard and started to play. That lasted about 10 minutes and we were ready to come in.  The plan was to sneak into the back door but it was locked!  So what to do but ring the bell?  My mom was really mad--she let us in, yelled at us, and sent us back to bed.  We were retelling this story and laughing about it one day about 10 years ago.  Apparently the four older siblings didn't know anything about it until then.  Even funnier though, was the fact that my mom didn't know either!  Well, she knew we went outside without permission, but she said that all these years she'd thought that we just sneaked out the door when she wasn't looking.  No one, including the person who let us back in the house, were aware that the "babies" had jumped out of the window.  This story is always high on the list of retellings when we get together.  My mom still can't get over it.  YOU JUMPED OUT OF THE WINDOW?!

Fun times.  It's amazing all the things we did before everyone became so safety-conscious, health conscious and eco-conscious.  We rode our bikes without helmets.  We rode in the front seat of the car, without seatbelts!  We drank out of the water hose.  We didn't carry hand sanitizer in our purses. We jumped out of second floor windows.  And we're still here!

I made it safely to Springfield and went on a little tour of the capitol.  My daughter has a nice little workspace and she seems totally in her element.  I'm proud of her...at just 21 she's working on an advanced degree, working a full-time job and navigating a new city.  Me? I'm just looking forward to getting in a little shopping before I go back home.