A Boy’s Best Friend
Who was your best friend as a boy when you were growing up? I’m certainly not sure, but I’d bet it was your mother. At least, in my case, my mother was this boy’s best friend.
“Back in the day” most moms were those who stayed at home. Unfortunately, that’s not the case anymore and, hoping you agree, our institution of family has suffered tremendously. Hey, after my formative years, my mom probably like your mom eventually found a passion they became devoted too. My mom’s passion turned out to be real estate and she was extremely successful being in the business from 1974-2014.
In fact, my mom didn’t get her driver’s license until I was twelve years old in 1964. Mom had a lead foot, received many tickets for speeding, and was involved in her fair share of accidents. Honestly, as I’ve related before, I’m certain there was a picture of her encircled with a slash running through it in every Arlington County police cruiser.
But she was this best boy’s taxi driver throughout Junior High School and a portion of High School until the Baby Boomer got his own license late in 1968. Mind you I say his own license, but without a car. My folks were very fair in allowing me to drive as long as I drove responsibly which, for the most part, I did.
Mom always wanted to remain young and she so much enjoyed carting us all around to all sorts of sporting and other events becoming a so-called member of the gang. In fact, she became a very important part of the gang which she very much enjoyed and helped to keep her young.
My mom was always very supportive of my activities and was very active in my Elementary School at Wilson getting involved with school functions, being a Room Mother, and of course, a member of the PTA. “Back in the day”, if school called home and said you weren’t being a good little boy or girl, parents would rush to the school to get you straightened out. Parents and the school worked well together ensuring a strong education and a strong family foundation something which is extremely lacking today.
Certainly, I don’t remember too much about my earliest years mainly just through some old pictures. I really never thought I’d like sitting down and looking at old photographs actually taken by a camera to which you had to load film in the back of and put bulbs into an attachment in order to produce a flash for the indoor picture to be taken. As if that wasn’t enough, you’d then normally take them to a drug store, in our case a People’s Drug Store, to have the film developed hoping your pictures would turn out ok. Well, I now very much enjoy looking at old photos which bring back such fond memories while I’m still able to reflect and reminisce.
But as I grew older through my toddler years, my little boy years, and my early teenage years, there was one person who I was always with and that was my mom. Everyday throughout all of those years she would be there when I woke up, made sure I brushed my teeth, she would help me bathe, have my clothes laid out and help dress me, make my bed up, feed me, play with me, help me with any homework, make certain I would wash my face and hands before bed, waiting until I said my bedtime prayer, covering me up, and give me a kiss goodnight. There’s no doubt she was this boy’s best friend!
Hey, but that’s not all for she was right there as well when I was sick with all the colds, the flu, viruses, the mumps, and the measles. I, and probably she, didn’t relish the placing of the rectal thermometer or having an enema (yuck!), but she was successful in nursing me back to good health with all the aspirin, cough syrup, and Vick’s VapoRub slathered over my chest and up my nose. When I fell, which was a lot being extremely clumsy, or fell out of a tree, or a tumble from my bike, she would clean all my “boo-boo’s” and load on the dark red liquid, mercurochrome, making any “boo-boo” appear to be much worse than it actually was with it later being banned by the FDA for some reason.
Mom was also my summer tour guide for two summers while in Elementary School hopping on our mode of transportation “back in the day”–the tan-colored Arnold Bus Line. Each Wednesday she would dress me up and down to Washington we would go to visit a site, eat lunch at one of the department stores (usually Woodies, Hecht’s, or Garfinkel’s), and finally an ENTIRE afternoon of shopping before the bus ride home. My mom loved to shop as she was actually a “shopaholic” and several days each week we’d allow the Arnold Bus Line to not only take us downtown, but to both Virginia Square and Pakington.
When the weather was nice, we’d head to one of the playgrounds within Colonial Village, where I was able to play on the jungle gym, the seesaw, in the sandbox, a little merry-go-round, and swings while my mom would catch up on all the daily gossip with the other mothers. Not only was my mother a “shopaholic”, but the consummate “talkaholic” who loved to burn up the telephone line on that boxy-looking metal (later plastic) covered rotary telephone. I remember thinking the world was going to spin out of control when she got her first Princess phone and an extended cord!!
TV was a very popular pastime while growing up “back in the day”. Being only in “black and white”, my mom enjoyed watching the “Today” show with Dave Garroway, Jack Lescoulie, and Paul Blair. I got to enjoy “Captain Kangaroo” with Mr. Green Jeans, “Ranger Hal” and puppets Oswald the Rabbit and Eager Beaver, and “Romper Room” with Mr. Do-Be. In the afternoon, shows I watched were “Captain Tugg” featuring Popeye cartoons and “Pick Temple with his Collie, Lady, and his opening greeting of “Heidi, Pardner”, a tip of his cowboy hat to the Heidi Bakery, as the show was sponsored by Giant Food. The true highlight, though, of our afternoon TV watching was “American Bandstand” from Philadelphia with Dick Clark.
My mom would occasionally take me across Wilson Boulevard to the Colonial Village Bowling Alley which was two floors of duckpin bowling. At that time, I was too small and had to roll the ball down the alley using two hands and releasing it from between my legs. The real treat for me was to walk to the Giant Food across the street across from Colonial Village on Wilson Boulevard with my mom to pick-up just a couple of items before walking down the block to the People’s Drug Store for lunch. The lunch counter was run by Miss May and she was always so happy to see us and was very accommodating. The offerings were minimal as there was no grill or fryer, but I very much enjoyed a hot dog from the rotisserie followed by a thick, made from scratch, chocolate milkshake–um, um good!
As you can see, I had a wonderful childhood. Yes, I had unconditional love for my mom as she had unconditional love for me. But I think just as important is we truly liked one another, being in each other’s company, and just being together. Yes, in my case, my mother was this boy’s best friend!!