My children go today to a McDonald's that I went to as a child. Yes, I still live that close from home. Although, back when I was a child, the shopping strip mall was just being built and the McDonald's was the height of excitement to go to as a child. I remember going there as a special occasion after our fifth grade play. We played outside on the playground, ate our food and had sundaes for dessert.
When I was older, I went to that McDonald's with my friends. It had gone through some reonvations by that point and they had this new thing called a, "drive-through" that was very exciting. They had to retro-fit the building so that the drivers could move around the outside to order and get their food and the only way they could accomplish this was to put an overhead conveyor belt that passed through the dining area and went to the pick-up area. It was so fun watching the bags of food going overhead as you ate your chicken McNuggets.
When I got a little older, my next door neighbor got his license. He saved up money and got an old car. One afternoon he decided to take his brother, Joey, and me to McDonald's for lunch. We ate and had a nice meal and as we were leaving in the parking lot a man rushed out and was very upset because Joey had just dinged his car when he opened the door. Jeff, the older brother, was furious. How could Joey do such a thing he asked when we got back in the car after swapping insurance information with the man. Joey and I were younger and we didn't see why a silly door ding made any difference and who would care.
Today, that McDonald's has gone through more iterations. It was torn down completely at one point and rebuilt. The drive through works very well now and it's one of the most efficient McDonald's around. And while we've gone there many times, my children will have an entirely different memory of that store, because they never go inside. We always get our food to go.
The Big Boy Update: The newest Whovian. I have mentioned before how he gets easily scared of movies. The other night he wasn't sleepy and I decided to let him stay up a bit longer and watch my television show, "Doctor Who". I asked him if he liked the show--which is filled with aliens and robots attacking in the middle of a time war--he told me, "yes, mommy". He watched the whole, relatively scary, episode and never flinched. He's my little Whovian.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Spontaneous napper. Two days in a row she's decided quietly, and without saying anything to anyone, that she wants a nap. She disappeared a while ago and is now asleep in her bed.
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