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Nostalgia

2012-10-02 13:44:21

Do you remember?

Q- We are into what my wife and I consider to be our favorite time of the year. I have heard many say it is theirs as well. You do so well in causing all of us to have memories of earlier years, do you have some Fall memories you would like to share?

A- Gosh, I know what you mean when you say the favorite time of the year. It is so beautiful, especially about 7 days after the first frost. They say that the Catskills and other places are beautiful in the Fall, but it has to be equally beautiful here. For me, the month of October was the beginning of the Fall season. It was the time of year that the city took on its beautiful colors from the varied and plentiful trees from the leaves turning colors to red, orange and yellow. Decorations were on display in the store windows and homes. The new cars with the next year’s date were previewed and sold by local car dealers. The Wichita Riverside Park Zoo moved their seasonal animals to the basement for the winter months. It always was quite a press day when the alligators were picked up and moved. This usually was a front page news event in the local newspapers. The alligator pit always looked very empty when you went to the zoo in the winter months. Of course, there were the houses of mystery connected with the Fall festivals of All Hallows Eve. Many places were made into scary walks. We visited the stores for costumes, but many times creative parents created their own make-up and costumes for the children to go out trick-or-treating. My wife said her friends would carry a bar of white soap and if no one answered the door, they simply made a white X on the door screen for the trick (now don’t go doing that today…it’s just something that was done years ago). I remember that my children would go around the neighborhood and come home to dump their candy on the floor to see all of the goodies they had collected. We had a youth group at our church. My wife and I would plan an unknown destination and take the youth blindfolded in cars to a friend’s suburban field where the headless horseman would ride across the field and throw a pumpkin at them. Or, we took them to the basement of an old building downtown where we had decorated the room and other church members were made up in costume. I still remember during my childhood years living in Chanute, Kansas and attending the Main Street or the Peoples Theaters and being afraid to walk home by myself after seeing October is also the month of my birthday. When I was younger, I had finally convinced my father that I wanted a Cushman motor scooter. I got my wish and my dad and mother warned me to drive it very carefully or I would have a wreck. The first day I rode it, at the corner of Douglas and Main, a lady turned her car into me. I fell…with the scooter…with her car on top of that…and me under the scooter. Fortunately the only injury to me was the damage to my motor scooter which was minor and my shirt was torn off when I fell. I had some exciting times going to school with my buddies on that little bike. I was also proud to know that my birthday was on the same day as television personality, Johnny Carson, who later became one of my favorite entertainers. I actually had the opportunity to meet him at a news conference held at the airport when I was news director at KFDI Radio. He was a great guy. Enjoy all of the beauties of this beautiful Fall season…and don’t eat too much of your kids’ candy (smile).