Kmart pictures and goulash
Thursday, Dec. 2 1983
Kmart pictures at this time were the creme de la creme, although maybe just for us middle class folks in the Midwest. Now that I see that Kmart no is no longer in exitance it shudders dozens of memories growing up. If you can remember there was an Olson Mills studio located inside most stores. There were piles of old cloth and dusty carpets that they would drape over some sort of chair or booster. Looking back now, I can’t help but wonder if those things were ever washed. Then, off to the side was bucket or a box of the most random little stuffed toys you can imagine. Again, maybe never washed. They squeaked and made all kids of random noises, so that the anxious little faces would pay attention to a big clunky film camera. There was a dramatic flash of light, and then maybe some middle-aged women named Brenda would grin uncontrollably and say, “you kids did a great job.” Then we went home to wait. Maybe for several weeks, or just enough time to find out that someone wasn’t smiling, or the hair was out of place. However, it was likely labeled by your parents as quality family time, so you went ahead and picked your package. Someone, somewhere, has dozens of little family members pictures in “wallet sizes” because you could get any less than a hundred. At that time people had them all over the refrigerator, held up by some little obscure magnet from Mexico.
I still have some of those pictures.
And Mom’s goulash is still amazing!
The weather was bad. Kathy and I made it to Kmart. After the kids' pictures, we started to potty train Britain. Not too much success. Kathy fixed hamburger with tomatoes and green beans over rice. Kathy and Mark had another tiff over the kids' pictures.
This is exactly why I will always cherish journals, diaries, or letters, from family members that came before me. If you haven’t yet, I would like to encourage you to start today. I keep handwritten hard copies of all these things., because let’s face it, somethings tend to disappear when they hit the internet. Not everything has to be a digital copy.