I was driving by "the mall" yesterday while running errands. There are lots of malls, but when I was growing up this mall was built while I was still young and by the time I was old enough to go anywhere for shopping expidetions with my mother, typically this was the mall we wouild go to and for all the years of my youth extending even into today as I still live only a few miles away, that particular mall is known as simply, "the mall".
I can think back over many iterations of changes that the mall went through during my life. There were arcades that I spent hours in when I was a pre-teen after getting dropped off with friends by one of our parents. Back then, the mall was a destination. We would save up some money and make plans for what we'd do when we got there. Commonly, much of my planning revolved around getting candy at various stores followed by playing games at one of the arcades.
We shopped for clothing too, but clothing cost more money and was less of a draw until I was in high school when my tastes centered around affordable jewelry or things at Spencer's novelty store. Investing in a single piece of clothing used up far more of my cash on hand than candy, arcade games, and trinkets. I usually waited until my mother would take me on a shopping trip to buy clothes for the latest school year, a trip we took together to that very same mall.
Over time the mall became more crowded. I got my license and my mother vowed not to go near the place any time remotely surrounding the holiday season. This was before online shopping and then was one of the only places to go to get holiday gifts —if you could manage the long wait to get in the parking area followed by circling until you found a parking space. The final years before cyber shopping took off they had employees bussed in, traffic directors and coned off single-direction entry and exit to the greater mall area. You could get stuck in barely moving traffic for hours trying to get in or out.
My mother was smart, she did catalog shopping early, via phone or mail and avoided the chaos and frustration that was the mall during the month of December. I still liked to go and usually tried to pick better times that were less crowded. I got stuck a time or two myself. There was a building off to the side of the mall that, if you knew what you were doing, could be used as a cut through from one road to another. Sometimes, but not always, it would get you out of the traffic early.
That building had been there since the mall was built as far as I knew. It was about ten stories high, which was relatively tall for the urban area we lived in. I didn't pay attention to what the company was that owned or inhabited the building, it was a bank I think. At the top of the building, they had a lit display on each of the four sides showing the current time and temperature. Maybe the date, but I think it was just time and temperature though.
This was the height of tecnhology back then. It was lit with what appeared to be large white bulbs and changed slowly enough that you could see the time and temperature about twice before you drove past (unless you were stuck in holiday traffic).
We always made a point to look and call out the temperature. We had watches, but the temperature was something you got from a thermometor on the outside of a window at home or via the radio when I was a child. By the time we drove by the mall, perhaps later in the day or after school, we had no idea what the temperature was beyond general guesses of how it felt outside.
That building is still there today even though the mall has changed a good bit. A building behind it was dropped via demolition—something rare in our area—and another building is currently under significant external renovations. The temperature building still sits on the corner of the intersection and the top still shows the time and temperature. I think at one point the bulbs were updated to be higher "resolution" sporting smaller bulbs for a cleaner, more exacting look.
I still drive by the mall a lot, but I don't remember the last time I looked at the temperature or time until I saw it the other day. I have the temperature on my phone and watch and can marshal the information any time I want. I don't know if it's even the same company that owns the building. I wonder how long the display or building even will remain before it's updated like much of the area aroumd it.
The Big Boy Update: My son heard there was a lemonade stand down the street this afternoon. He ran into our room after announcing it and I called to him, "what are you doing? You're not just taking money from us without asking to buy lemonade, are you?" He came out, a bit sheepish, and offered to buy us a lemonade too if we'd give him some quarters.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter went off on her bike this morning while I was off at a board retreat. I heard when I got home that she got lost and was "found" by a neighbor who was about to bring her home when my husband and son came around the corner looking for her. They knew she was exploring the neighborhood on her bicycle. She wants to be independent so badly. We're trying to not limit her just because she's blind. She is exceptionally cautious. There isn't a child I know that is more careful when it comes to cars. She hears everything and is out of the way on the grass well before a car could even get to her. It gives her a lot of pride that she can go out on her bicycle alone around the neighborhood.
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