Check, Please! Memories of Me Monday

Today’s Memory Jogger: “Where do you like to eat out, and what do you order?”

Growing up in a family with 5 kids and a stay-at-home mom we didn’t eat out much.  In fact, I really can’t remember a single time we all went to a sit-down type restaurant together until I was in my mid-teens and then my mom, shocked at the unexpectedly high San Francisco prices (we were on a trip and passed through the city), whispered to us kids, “Don’t you dare order anything!”Last weekend, when I mentioned to my mom that I remembered going to a neighborhood A & W Root Beer drive-through for root beer floats she said, “You must have been with your dad.”  My dad loves root beer floats! 

During the years we lived in Minnesota we sometimes went to Dairy Queen for dilly bars – a disk of vanilla ice cream on a stick, dipped in chocolate and adorned with a cute little curly-cue on one side.  And, of course, there was McDonald’s, every kid’s dream dinner.  In 1968, when I was 11, a hamburger at McDonald’s cost 18 cents!  Even in the mid-70’s you could still get a hamburger, fries, and a Coke for less than a dollar.  Sounds great until you take into consideration that minimum wage then was $1.60!One of my FAVORITE restaurants in my early teen years was Bob’s Big Boy:My best friend, Judy, and I were obsessed with going to Bob’s Big Boy – on our own.  We were probably 12 or so when we began doing this.  We’d save up our money and when we had enough we’d go there for lunch on a Saturday.  We always had the Big Boy Combo; Big Boy hamburger (huge, with cheese), fries (tons, dripping with catsup and sparkling with salt), and a chocolate shake (which arrived in a stainless steel .  It was heaven!

(I can’t remember for sure but it seems our combos cost us each around $3.99.  I think!  Do you remember, Judy? I’m pretty sure we waited until we each had $4.00 so that we’d have enough to also cover tax and tip.)

As much as we loved the food, I think what we enjoyed even more was how grown up we felt, dining a a restaurant unaccompanied by adults.  We loved being waited on, giving our orders, having the food delivered piping hot and creamy cold, we even loved leaving the tip.  That grown-up feeling lasted for hours afterwards, too.

It was so worth the 16 hours of babysitting at 25 cents an hour!

FOR NEXT WEEK: “What is your favorite form of travel (plane, car, etc.)?  Describe one vivid memory of a car trip you’ve had, and one vivid memory of a plane trip.”