by Zona
About a week ago Randy was trying to make room in the front hall closet to put some Christmas decorations away. He couldn't quite push a box of ornaments into the back corner on one of the shelves..and when he reached in to find out why..he found an old beat up book. He brought it to me to look at..to see if I knew what it was and if I wanted to keep it. The book had "Record" embossed on the front and when I opened it up I saw my father's name written on the inside cover and underneath it "Transportation and Automobile Expenses as of Feb. 21 1953". I've lived in this house a long time..and I have never seen this book before. Flipping through it..I saw page after page of car maintenance information written in neat columns. I'm assuming he had to keep these records as part of his expense report for work. It was interesting to see that gas was 27 cents a gallon..and that for a whopping $14.75..he got a new master cylinder, thermostat, belt AND a tune-up! What really got to me though..was seeing my dad's handwriting. If I hadn't known better..I would have thought I wrote these entries..his handwriting and mine are almost identical. It was really eerie. I had the same feeling a couple years ago when I heard a recording my mom's dad made of their family when my mom was only 16 yrs old..I knew my mom's voice right away because I sounded just like her. It got me to thinking how these kinds of things are passed down and sometimes we don't even realize it. Do you notice anything about yourself now that reminds you of your mom or dad..gestures..habits..phrases that they said that you now say?
On Thanksgiving..after I finished telling a story about my mom..my sister said something to me that really made me smile..she told me..."Sometimes when you talk you sound so much like mom..it's like she's still here.." Cool.. :)
