My Memories

When you look at these pictures, you see a pile of rubble I am sure. I cry. I see a gas station, a store. A fixture of my childhood. I see RB's. Tha twas the name of the store. It was just a cinder block building. It had an apartment on top of it that people lived in when I was growing up. I remember the metal stairs going up the left side. I remember walking up to the store all of my growing up years. I rememeber RB & Mazelle in the store & my picture along with all the other kids in the neighborhood tacked up behind the counter. I can see it. I know whose picture was beside mine. I know that we (all of us kids whose pictures were tacked up there) all felt a part of this store. I felt at home there, going in. I can see where the candy counter & coolers were.

I realize what a sentimental person I am when I saw the old store that had not been in business in years torn down. I stopped in the rain, took these pictures & cried & cried. Somewhere in my heart I longed for the store to be back open, RB & Mazelle to be in there & the safety & security of my childhood to be back intact. I wanted to be in the backseat of my parents Ford Granada (red with a white top of course) pulling up to the pump & RB coming out to pump our gas & holler at me, "Hey gal!"

Where do you go now that your gas is pumped for you? You are greeted by a friend? They know your name, your Mama, Daddy, Mamaw, Papaw, Uncles & all of your friends. Would I have been wrong while I was stopped to pick up a wet block, a piece of metal, something from the building, something to keep, a physical piece of the past? I didn't, but I still might.

I talked to a friend who is like a sister about it who lived up the road from me growing up. She cried when she saw it torn down also. Maybe I am not the only one who knows we lived in a whole different world. We hugged & cried together about it. So I don't feel like I am the only one.

Maybe I should just be thankful that I have these memories of the store, the apartment above, the little house that used to sit beside it, and the wonderful people that used to own it & run it with a smile.