First Post!

I titled this blog "Memory Babe" in honor of Jack Kerouac, who was nicknamed such by his childhood friends, who were amazed at his ability to recall events and details. I am not a Memory Babe but this is my attempt, through pop culture, recollections, music, and any other thing that comes along, to not only remember events from long ago, but also preserve them for my baby girl, Cassidy (partially named for Mr. Kerouac's running buddy Neal Cassady) who just turned 3. I think there may be a call for her to look into why she is the way she is. This blog will certainly capture that, I think. I’ve been thinking about starting this blog for some time and today after talking to my sister, who seems to use her blog as a daily diary, it seemed like a good time.

I got a little taste of my childhood today courtesy of Wal-Mart of all places. As I was shopping, I saw they had put out "fresh" food in the warmer. It being lunch time and seeing the long lines ahead of me, I checked it out. Wouldn't you know it, lo and behold, there was a fried hot apple pie!

For those of you born pre-1992 when the baked apple pie replaced the fried apple pie at McDonald's, you'll remember the crunchy outside, the searing hot, burn the roof of your mouth so bad you don't know if you're eating crust or skin inside. I don't know if this was what Sam Walton envisioned when he said you should "Deliver more than you promise", but yum yum! this delivered not only a delicious snack, but also a childhood flashback, which made the 45 minute wait in line bearable.

I grew up on Division St. in Schenectady, NY. We lived in 3 different flats on the same street for a total of 10 years. Two of the houses were "at the top of the street" and the last one we lived in was "at the bottom of the street" (there was a big hill in the middle). At the end of the street if you crossed State (which was a lot like playing human Frogger), there was a McDonald's. We were way too poor to ever get to eat at McD's, but every year at Halloween a popular thing to give the kids was coupons for a free hot fudge sundae or a hot apple pie (I think the coupons were part of a charity thing). I always traded my sisters for their hot apple pie coupons and for two weeks straight was able to go down and grab a hot apple pie. You know how good apple pie is on a crisp fall afternoon? Now imagine how good a hot apple pie from McDonald's is on a crisp fall afternoon to a poor kid who only ate them for two weeks out of the year.

So we begin: a Kerouac reference, I drop Frogger on you, AND talk about being a poor kid in Schenectady who was happy anytime he could have a hot apple pie from McDonald's. Now you know Cassidy, why you are like you are ;-)