Love at First Sight

I picked her up the spring of 1979 and fell in love with her. She was a country girl. She wasn't what you would call beautiful. In fact, she was probably what you would call a step below plain. She was not upper class, she was poverty...and she was cheap. But she had soul and for a mere one hundred dollars, she was all mine.

A 1970 Volkswagen Beetle in what may have been a hunter green at one time but was by then more rust than green. She was a semi-automatic, the metal plate still attached to the hood of the engine in the back. For those of you who don't know what a semi-automatic is, you still shift the gears manually as if you are driving a standard but there is no clutch. Cyril, my stepfather, drove her home and taught me how to drive her. He decided that if I could drive her, there was not a vehicle out there that I would not be able to handle. When driving down the road, I was unable to sneak up on anyone. She sounded as if she needed winding as I drove her and her timing was off so while stopped at a light, I would have her in neutral with my left foot on the brake, the right on the gas. It did take a certain amount of talent to drive her. I would fill her tank with a five dollar bill and we'd go miles and miles for two weeks.

The trunk was so rusted that you could not use it for what it was intended (the spare tire was suspended by bungee cords). Anything and everything was loaded into the back seat making shopping, camping and passengers all real challenges.

Because she was only a little four cylinder whose timing was off the beam, going up hills was a definite challenge. Down on the other hand was a breeze. My best friend and I would go out to her sister's just about every weekend. The village of Attica is only about 35 miles from here, not a long trip at all. But to my little Bug, it could have been hundreds. There are hills that must be conquered in order to get there. These hills are not large to the average vehicle. I found that if I were to speed down hill first, I'd just about make it up the next hill. Of course, it would help if my passenger(s) and I would lean forward. It's really best not to ask.

On one particular trip, an eighteen wheeler was traveling behind me, poor devil. The hills where coming up and I did not want to hold this poor driver up, his vehicle would have just as much trouble as mine. Waving frantically to get him to go around did absolutely nothing. I have always felt that he stayed behind me because, deep in his heart, didn't think the little engine could. But her engine would say, "I know I can, I know I can".

Camping was the top form of entertainment back then, second only to drinking, whether it was a holiday weekend, bluegrass festival or just for the sake of camping. It was my little green Bug that would get us there. The backseat was piled high with a tent, case of beer, bedding, case of beer, food, case of beer, cooking utensils, case of beer, suitcase, and a pouch of whatever for shots (bet you thought I was going to say a case of beer). And off we'd go. She'd get us there and back regardless of the distance.

She took me to some great concerts along with a friend or two. Once I had her loaded to the max. The concert was The Allman Brothers Band and there was eight of us in her. The backseat of the 1970 Beetle would hold two people comfortably. Behind the backseat and the engine was storage which was large enough to hold a suitcase but not much else. On this particular trip, we packed three in front and five in back. I now know how an overstuffed phone booth felt like.
The smallest of our group was stuffed in the storage way in the back. She would lift an arm on occasion to let us know she was alright. In the back seat sat three friends with the fourth laying across the other three. And in the front with me sat my brother and his girlfriend on his lap. Along our little group went, down the thruway to downtown and the Aud. I learned a valuable lesson that night. One should never have anyone on a lap in the front seat of a standard. Every bump we hit, my brother's friend would bounce and hit the gear shift. Although she never complained, I can't help thinking how uncomfortable that was. It's hard to believe to this day that we drove to the Aud most of the way in neutral and managed to make it in one piece.
With my Bug, I took my younger siblings to places they may not have otherwise been able to go. I'd yell for Midge, the family collie, asking if you'd like a ride and in she'd go, taking up the entire back seat, head out of one window and tail out the other, not giving a care where we were going as long as she got to go with me. The Bug and I went on shopping trips and out drinking with friends. My favorite nights out were the mornings after when my stepfather would enter the kitchen, hair on end and announce that I was in early the night before since the hood was cool to the touch when he got home (at four am). I can still see Mom and I laughing later because he'd forgotten the engine was in the back and he was feeling the trunk. I had arrived at home only five minutes before he did.
Our relationship ended with summer, her timing having melted together. But it was the greatest summer. I couldn't bear to watch as Cy towed her away, my Dad's arm around my shoulder and my Mom rolling her eyes behind me as the tears flowed down my cheeks. That little green and rust Bug gave me my independence and over 30 years later, I still mourn the loss of my first love and the joys of that summer so long ago.

A Tribute

This is a tribute of some of my co-workers. If you are not mentioned, it doesn't mean that you will be forgotten.

Sophia, you and I never really saw eye to eye. And I will be the first to admit that you would get on my last nerve on a regular basis. But (and there is always a but), I admire you for not retiring and continuing to work. I can only hope that my family has not put me in a home by then (I suspect it's been picked out already!).

To my podmate, Pauline. Cathy asked me if I thought you would be good in private pay. Yes, you may now blame me for that move. I told Cathy that I thought you had the right stuff and as far as I'm concerned, I was right. You speak with your hands, and on more than one occasion, I've wondered it that plane was ever going to land. But it's all good. You have become a close friend. And it still and always will amaze me that my brother and your sister were born on the same day and year, both at the same hospital! That you lived around the corner from us at the time. As you always say, "You never know who you will meet again." And I'd say our paths will cross several times more.

Berta, my buddy, my pal. We have now worked together at our last three jobs, I'm not sure I can work somewhere without you. So the plan is, wherever I go, I will tell them if they want me, they have to take you too! But on a very serious note, Berta, you are so compassionate that about your job, to a point that I'd swear that you were the founder and CEO. Berta, I love your sense of humor, the fact that you are able to laugh at yourself. Oh, and Berta? You remind me of my mother. ;)

Going through life in denial is really not the way to go Janice. But if that is the path you choose, be sure to feed my chickens, fertilize my crops and shoo the raccoons away. Janice, kidding aside, we have worked together for two different companies and I've grown to respect your work ethics. I also can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate your support in my personal war to quit smoking.

As a single mom of an active and imaginative five year old, you have your hands full and when you took on the responsibility as Team Lead for your little troupe, I was proud of you Holly. Management made the right choice. You have a love for your co-workers and your family. It shines through when you talk about them and the discovery of your extended family in Italy. I hope you meet them all soon.

Nancy, I'll will hear your laughter and the call of "In coming!" in my sleep. Regardless of the mood or stress in the office or others, you managed to laugh. Thank you for that.

Ellen, you may be the smallest in stature, but you are larger than life when it comes to your work and friendships. As a team leader, you took on projects than most and never seemed to let it bother you. The calm you show under stress makes you that great leader.

You are never at a loss for words, Debbie, and always you speak your mind. This combination has not necessarily made you most popular with some but always with me. Over the past two years we have worked together, laughed together and cried together. While I wish that I would have been asked to stay, I'm very glad that they asked you.

Cynthia, I have to admit that most of the time that I worked with you I honestly didn't think you were all that fond of me. But I did feel respect from you as I hope you felt from me. I can not remember the last time I worked for a woman that worked so hard for her employees. I can't say enough about what you tried to do for us and I'm sure you wish it would have been more.

Scarecrow, I'm going to miss you most of all. Cathy, I'm sure that there have been times when you wished that you never hired me. I know at times I gave you a hard time. Feel free to think of me as one of those tests that you have during your lifetime. It was an honor to work for and with you. Of all the new friends I met here, you have become one of my closest friends. And Cathy? When I left, we were zero calls out...

Of course there are many more women that I worked with, all great in what they do, all have touched me in one way or another. Everyone of you is a class act...best of everything in the future.

Anna's Story

Chapter Two

Anna begins walking in the direction of her gaze. She was still silent, walking through the crowd that separates like the Red Sea. As if wearing blinders, she sees nothing but the sight before her.

"Mein leibhaber, mein Zigeuner, my Steve!", she cries out. A life-size portrait of her husband stands before her, She has been a widow for over 50 years and has never stopped loving or missing him. He is her gypsy, the man she fell in love with all those long years ago.

Heidi, her eldest granddaughter, always interested in the man she never met, had the life-size photo of her grandfather made from an old wedding photograph for the party. There were also enlargements of other missing family members that have been long gone. Pictures of her parents, her brothers and their wives. Only one was missing and that was her sister, Mary, gone these past 100 years. She never met her older sister and there were no pictures of her to be found. As Anna stands there, her family begins to come, surrounding her. Her favorite great-granddaughter, Katrina, Heidi's youngest, is standing next to her, arm around her shoulder, asking, "Old Grandma, are you okay? You look like you have seen a ghost."

Anna's voice cracks as she replies, "Yes, child, I am. Just a bit of a shock and lost in my memories."

"Come, sit down and I'll get you a cup of tea. Relax and have fun, it's your day after all." said Katrina.

As Heidi wheeled in the cake, ablaze with 90 candles, Anna looked into Heidi's eyes. Heidi how pleased Oma was but also saw something else, a flicker, like a candle almost blown out in the wind. And as her family gathered around the cake and sang, Anna's thoughts moved back over her long life.

She grew up in what is known as the Valley on Exchange Street in Buffalo. The neighborhood was of Hun-Austrian immigrants. Her parents had moved back and forth from Austria to America several times before her Papa told her Mother to choose a country. With World War I beginning, America was were they would make their permanent home. When she was a young woman in her teens, a family from Czechoslovakia had moved into the neighborhood. With them, they brought a border, a young man of 17. To Anna, he was the most handsome man she ever laid eyes on and decided then and there she would marry a gypsy.

Anna went to a Catholic high school in her neighborhood with her best friend, Celeste. They changed their route to school in order to pass the Gypsy's house. Leaning toward Anna, Celeste whispers, "Ann, I don't understand why you have me take the long way to school, that new kid goes to work very early in the morning, he's been gone for hours!"

"Yes, I know Celeste, you tell me that every morning." said Anna. "But what if he is late one day? I want you to see him, he's so handsome. I want going to marry a gypsy like him someday.

Celeste rolled her eyes, "And so you tell me every morning!" And of they went as they did every morning, until almost a year later.

Seniors and just about a month away from graduation, Anna and Celeste, heads together, walk the same route they started a year ago. Their voices low, whispering teen girl secrets to one another, Anna felt eyes on her, almost as if they were burning into her soul. As she looked over her shoulder, she saw her gypsy, watching her. There was a stirring in her that she never felt before, unfamiliar yet not at all unpleasant. She never told Celeste, who after a year of taking this detour, never stopped complaining of the extra blocks, that he was there, watching. She looked into his eyes, certain that this would be the she gypsy would marry.

Peter's voice brought her back from the past, "Ma, it's time to open gifts. Are you feeling alright? You look a little pale".

"I'm fine Peter. Let's get the young ones to help Old Grandma open this mountain of gifts".