I know some of the girls wrote about their earliest memories of writing, but that's not how I took this prompt. While I was wracking my brain to remember about writing, I saw a tumblr post about smells and memories. The memory that came to me was the smell of the hardware store. My childhood smelled like this... My dad traveled a lot when I was a kid, but ever since I can remember, if he was home, we would get up on Saturday mornings, watch morning cartoons and have cereal. My brother and I would wait for Mom and Dad to wake up and we would run errands together, always stopping at the hardware store. I remember the sweet smell of fresh cut wood and the pungent, harsh smell of the nuts and bolts aisle.
After leaving the hardware store, we always went to the "fancy" McDonald's on the other side of town. It was fancy because it had a section of the restaurant where we had to walk down steps to get to the booths.. On Saturdays with McDonald's with Dad, we always paid with orange money. I didn't know till years later, those orange slips were coupons from the bank. At the bank Mom used, for every $5 a parent put in a child's savings account, the family was given a free happy meal coupon.
After lunch, we'd go home and watch Soul Train and the Muppets, play 'Old Maid,' and fix popcorn while waiting to watch Love Boat on TV.
After leaving the hardware store, we always went to the "fancy" McDonald's on the other side of town. It was fancy because it had a section of the restaurant where we had to walk down steps to get to the booths.. On Saturdays with McDonald's with Dad, we always paid with orange money. I didn't know till years later, those orange slips were coupons from the bank. At the bank Mom used, for every $5 a parent put in a child's savings account, the family was given a free happy meal coupon.
After lunch, we'd go home and watch Soul Train and the Muppets, play 'Old Maid,' and fix popcorn while waiting to watch Love Boat on TV.