It was the one night my parents used the stereo attachment to our TV consul, the large piece of furniture in our living room with the very modern concept and ease of “having all of your entertainment needs in one convenient location,” it was our Motorola TV/Stereo/Radio. My parents would play their getting-ready-to-go-out pile of 78’s records, music from Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Rosemary Clooney, and the Dorsey Brothers. “You kids will survive for at least two hours listening to this music,” my mother would say, after all this is New Year’s Eve, and your father and I want to get into the mood to have fun.” The kids, my older sister Bonnie, my younger sister Francie, and I always laughed out loud when my mother said she and my father were going out to have fun, thinking, “what kind of FUN, can parents possibly have?”
As my mother would walk down the stairs from our second floor, preceding her would be the aroma of her, THIS IS A SPECIAL NIGHT, perfume. An array of lavender and roses would escort her down the 12 steps leading to the living room, filling up our house with a most wonderful fragrance. On special night outs, my mother would wear her rainbow earrings, with tiny stones of red, green, and blue, my father would tell us that my mother was wearing her movie star jewelry. A few minutes later as my father joined us on the first floor, the fragrance changed course and a hardy helping of Old Spice would engulf our lungs. He would be wearing his favorite tie, with a horn and happy new year embroidered on the tie. They would both then walk over to the stereo, turn up the volume, and much to our embarrassment start slow dancing. Then as the record played on, my father would take my sister Bonnie’s hand and do a jitterbug move, my mother would take my hand and do a two-step, and finally my father took the hand of my little sister Francie and twirl her around and around.
Right before they were about to leave for the night, the kids would walk into the kitchen with my mother, and she would tell us in which Tupperware the homemade corned beef, Kosher pickles, homemade potato salad could be found, then opening the freezer to show us the newly purchased gallon of Napoleon Ice Cream had been hidden, and then place her home-made chocolate cake with white icing on the kitchen table. And because this was New Year’s Eve, my father would walk up from our basement with two whole gallons of Coke. We NEVER bought Coke, always going with the Pittsburgh pop called Regent Pop, but on this occasion, we had Coke and Lays Potato Chips. Life was truly good that night.
As the front door opened and my parents were ready to leave, and have parent kind of fun, my mother would kiss all goodnight and remind us that we MUST listen to my older sister Bonnie, as she was the official babysitter. Then my father would kiss us goodnight, and quietly whisper in my ear, listen to your sister, but really he said to me, you are the man of the house, so take care of your sisters.
My parents left the house, the New Year’s Eve 78’s records stopped playing, and my sisters and I anticipated staying up until that spooky hour of Midnight. What would this next newest year bring us, we thought. What kind of magic was waiting for us in the future!
May the memories of the past, continue to remain in our hearts for the present, and may today's adventures lead us into the future. Happy New Year!
