My Dad is going to be 87 ( I think) in a couple of weeks. This past week he had heart surgery. One of the arteries in his heart was 80% occluded. Luckily two stents were placed and we hope that does the trick. It was very scary. I am fortunate, I have a brother and sister-in- law that are both phenomenal and followed my Dad's procedures and progress every step of the way. I truly don't know what I would do without both of them.
So of course I spent a few days with him and we spent an evening going down memory lane and having a good laugh. It was wonderful.
Then I read the Sunday Parade section of the Washington Post and there was an article entitled "Lunch with Dad". This article talked about a son's memory of going with his Dad to his law office and how at lunch they would go to this place and he would always order a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich. It made me think about the times my Dad took me to work with him. He was a buyer for Gimbel's NY. FYI, Gimbel's was at the time, Macy's biggest competitor. Technically we were not suppose to buy anything at Macy's but I must confess, I did occasionally sneak in and buy something. I am sorry Dad it was a small something if that helps any.
Around midday, we would go to Horn and Hardart which was the most amazing place ever! For those of you who have never experienced a meal at Horn and Hardart I am going to try to walk you through the experience but if you have never been it is truly difficult to capture its essence. You walked into to this "luncheonette" that was pretty basic. The one we went to was a combination of a cafeteria line and a wall of glass and chrome compartments that were coin operated. The coins used were nickels and there was a place within the cafeteria were you could exchange bills for the coins and then the sky was the limit. Well not really. The food was your basic sandwiches, coffee, pies, pastry and cakes.
Like I said the one my Dad took me to was a combo restaurant so it had evolved from its original format. I remember I always got the macaroni and cheese. This mac and cheese was heaven in a bowl. It was creamy and cheesy and amazing and there was nowhere else to get this type of macaroni and cheese in my world. My Mom never made it at home. It was a Treat with a capital T and then to top it all off, my Dad would give me some nickels and I would go to the chrome and glass wall of food and buy an ORANGE ICED Cupcake. Yum! This is were my love affair with the cupcake started. For all you chocolate lovers they had chocolate cupcakes as well, but sadly I was extremely allergic to chocolate and could not eat them. The orange ones were fine by me.
Years later when I came to DC the Smithsonian actually had an exhibit that had the food dispensers from the Automat. It was thrilling to walk in and see a piece of my childhood. Sadly the Automat closed and my Dad and I had to find a new place.
These memories will last for the rest of my life. It was one of the few times that I had alone time with my Dad growing up and it was wonderful. I am glad I had it than and I am glad I got to spend time with him this weekend. I am blessed.
Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there.
Lunch with Dad in this week's Parade http://www.parade.com/22374/johndonohue/lunch-with-dad/
There is actually a book written about the Automat on amazon.com. Click on the picture below and check it out.
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