i remember i wore gloves the day i flew to finland with my grandmother mama dear. i was eight and i wore my sunday finest. i even wore a hat with my fancy dress, because that is how you flew – all dressed up. it was 1967 and we were departing for ten weeks together in scandinavia.
i remember lawn chairs in the front yard, my grandparents watching me hula hoop and skateboards with my brother and sister down the driveway. playing croquet with an old wooden set on the front lawn, kickball in the street, s-p-u-d across the neighbors’ yards and chasing fireflies clutching jars with punched-hole-lids so we could capture, watch and release them.
i remember riding bikes all over long island with my best friend susan. we’d tell my sweet momma we’d be home for dinner and off we’d go. just two girls on bikes, riding miles to the beach or a state or county park or each other’s houses, or just anywhere, with stops at carvel or friendly’s or mcdonald’s. no cellphones, no gps, no worries, no fear.
i remember in the mid and late 90s flying midwest express, often. the airline served actual meals on real plates with real cutlery, with champagne or mimosas or glasses of wine, depending on the time of day. they made warm chocolate chip cookies and brought them after the meal with hot cups of good coffee in real stoneware mugs. i dressed appropriately – in clothing that said i respected this lovely flight and those around me, the attendants working hard to make the experience pleasant.
i remember the day i flew to meet david’s family in 2013 the flight attendant asked me if i wanted to purchase water. water! no tiny bag of pretzels, no meal, no freebies, not even water. i had jeans and flipflops on, many people around me in their sweats.
time had passed.
the relics of a simpler time gone by remain. while helping 20 prepare his momma’s house for an estate sale, i opened a drawer next to the bed. in it were gloves – mostly white, but a pair or two of black or brown. there were short gloves and long gloves, cotton gloves and soft leather gloves. gloves with bows and gloves with seed pearls. gloves carefully placed together with their mates, clean and ready for wearing.
i wonder when the last time was that eileen wore these. for that time has passed. and we can only now vaguely remember it – a time when people celebrated occasions with stockings and heels and gloves to the elbow, customer-appreciation-gratis mimosas on airplane flights and kickball in the street.