Week 7 – Theme "Landed" – 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks –Baby Brother Visit
This is my second year working on this year-long weekly writing prompts provided by Amy Johnson Crow and posted on her Generations Cafe Facebook page. I will do my best to write something each week. I've missed the first 5 weeks of this and trying to get back into the swing of things.
I started working for Mervyn’s right out of high school in 1976 and worked for them for 16 years. In 1979 Mervyn’s was building 4 new stores in the Phoenix area and a group of us were promoted and transferred to Phoenix. I just turned 21 years old. All four stores’ management teams spent months interviewing, hiring, and training for all four stores.
I always kept in contact with my parents and baby brother Shawn when I was in Phoenix. Shawn was ten years old when I moved to Phoenix. We were close and I missed him tremendously. I asked my parents if they would fly him out to visit with me for a weekend. My mom at first was very hesitant, after all it was her baby. I don’t remember if my dad or I or both of us convinced her. Shawn had never been on an airplane and my mom was worried about it.
We picked a weekend, his ticket was purchased, and I made our plan of activities. The weekend came and I was so excited. His plane was on time, and I stood in the waiting area. He was the first to come off the plane. He ran to me and flung his ten-year-old arms around my neck. I was so glad to see him. I had to show the stewardess who accompanied Shawn my ID, all was good, and we left.
The first thing we had to do was drop off his luggage at my townhouse and then call my mom. When she picked up the phone I said, “He’s 'landed' safely, and all went OK.” She said a few words to Shawn, and we hung up. So weird to think there were no cell phones at that time and knowing my mom she was worried sick until she heard from me.
That weekend we went to the Phoenix Zoo. Our favorite was the Roadrunner exhibit. We had not experienced seeing one in the wild and we laughed about the cartoon Wiley Coyote and Roadrunner…beep beep!
My townhouse complex had a pool and we spent time in the pool. Shawn loved the water, and it was always hard to get him out of it, whether we were at home in the pool or the lake. Our weekend ended and I took him back to the airport, got him on the plane, called my mom from home to let her know he was on his way. Once they picked him up at the airport and arrived home, she called to tell me, “He 'landed' safely, and we are home.”
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story!
Love this memory of yours. I bet he had a great time.
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