Come Saturday Morning

On Saturday mornings my dad would go 10 miles across town to pick up his mother and Jennie, her cousin, so they could spend the rest of the weekend at our house. For two years, when I was four and five, most weeks I accompanied him on those trips. We often stopped at a hardware store on the way because he needed something for one of his chores related to the house or the yard.

Walking into this fascinating foreign space was exciting. The places I went with my mother during the week - the grocery, bakery, beauty or dress shoppes - were female territories. Even the butcher, with the sawdust on the floor, was welcoming to women. But, the minute my dad and I entered the hardware store, I was in a new masculine world. The ceilings seemed taller and the stacked shelves went to the top. The aisles were narrow. The smells were different, rather musty, but not an unpleasant old odor. I would follow in his wake down those mysterious rows, feeling safe. Little girls were greeted at the long wooden counter with a warm, "Now, who do we have here?" 

I look back and realize that I remember those mornings so fondly because I had very little one-on-one time with my father. Such was not the language or parenting style of the time. But in the car, with me kneeling on the front seat leaning forward with my hands on the dashboard so I could see out the windshield, we would talk. Not of anything important, just keeping company. Getting to and seeing grandma was the icing on the cake of my adventurous morning.

All too soon Jennie and grandma died and I discovered Saturday morning cartoons, but I never lost a fascination with hardware stores. Big box chains like Lowe's have not eliminated all of the old fashioned style places. There is one in Forest Park that has a hammer for a front door handle and, just like the small ACE in Berwyn, these places blend the old with the more modern necessities. Besides plumbing and electrical sections, my favorite Menards in Hodgkins has plants, clothing and groceries. Oh, and someone playing the piano to entertain shoppers. At the Home Depot in Cicero you can get a hot dog or churro on your way in or out.

As I headed into the city last Saturday morning to visit a friend, I was thinking of simpler times, of mornings past, and remembered those trips to grandma's house. I continued on my way with a smile on my face. Perhaps, in these difficult uncertain times, you too need to search for something warm and calming.

Marilyn