Today we spent 8 hours on the road taking R back to college and returning home. It was an all day affair and, luckily for us, was a beautiful sunny winter day for a road trip.

On our way to R’s school, we got to talking about the “old days” when I was a kid. It was prompted by a gas fillup at a station up in Indiana. I pulled into the gas station island where there was an attendant. I didn’t mean to and didn’t realize that service still existed. I swung around to another island — the “self serve” one — and the kids asked what that was all about. I went into a description of “back when” and the “old days” where there were full service gas stations and the station attendant would come out after you ran over the “ding, ding” hose (remember that cool sound?). They would pump your gas, wash your window, inflate your tires and check your oil for an added 10 or 15 cents a gallon.

This conversation transitioned to candy. My son is transfixed by the candy from back then and had all sorts of questions. I gave him all sorts of stories including types of candy and prices, which amazed him and my daughter K.

This conversation specifically cracked me up:

Me: “25 cents would get you a full size candy bar. 1 dollar would get you 4 full size candy bars.”

D: “And 10 dollars would get you sick.”

Such a witty and funny boy.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net