We’ve made it! All the way across the United States. On Tuesday it will be our anniversary. Sunday was a trip down memory lane. After leaving Albany early we arrived in our old neighborhoods by around 11 AM. First we took a quick detour to the old Data General site. It is partially an EMC building now. John called George so they could reminisce about the days of working at DG.
Even though this is not the way we visited our former homes, I thought it would make more sense to post the pictures chronologically. Before John and I were married, I lived in Brookline in an apartment with two other girls. Before too long, one of the girls departed and John left his groty apartment on Peterborough St. in Boston and moved in. We had two bedrooms, a large living room and a tiny kitchen. I had my car, Otis, towed here when I could not find off-street parking in the middle of the winter. It was also the site of the Mad Whistler.
After the lease ran out, we moved to Milford (first floor.) At this point I told my parents that John and I were living together, or as my father put it, shacking up. My mother was so concerned about my neighbors finding out that she sent me mail with an outside envelope addressed to John and an inner one addressed to me. God forbid the mailman should know. So we moved into suburbia clandestinely on July 1 and got married 16 days later. I have always craved parental approval. This was quite the step up for us. The rent was $201/month for a large 1 bedroom apartment. It was $1 over our budget and we had to think long and hard before we signed the lease. We lived here two years.
Then we discovered that we made too much to be living at the Rolling Green apartments. So we decided to build a house. Our first house had three bedrooms, one and a half baths, a living room, family room, dining room and kitchen in Mendon on a dirt road. The road is paved now and the house has a number. When we lived there, Mendon did not have numbers for Neck Hill Rd. We decorated in garish 1970’s colors, grew flowers and pumpkins and lived there for 3 years. I worked at Appliance Buyers Credit Corporation and John was doing well at Data General. We decided to start a family. So this is Jonathan’s first house. He had a pretty little sunlit bedroom and he was the best baby ever. But Data General had plans for us. When Jon was 6 months old we were transferred to North Carolina. But that is a story for another trip.
We were transferred back to Massachusetts in 1983. We bought a hole in the ground and a plan for a house in the summer and arrived in October to find – – a hole in the ground. We finally moved into 2 Maria Lane in Hopkinton in February of 1984. This is probably our best-loved house. We lived here for six years. We made friends who are still our friends today. All of us in our little cul-de-sac had kids who were the same age. It was idyllic. But then friends moved away and ultimately we did too.
It was a very peculiar day for dining. It was like we were the couple beamed down in Star Trek wearing the red shirts. (Wearing the red shirts in Star Trek meant that you were never returning to the ship, or anywhere else for that matter.) John started out the day by filling the waffle machine at the hotel. This machine had slots for four small waffles. He left his waffles to cook as he filled his coffee and got some fruit. When he came back someone had taken two of his waffles.
We continued on to Mendon where we were looking forward to a lobster roll at Lowell’s Dairy. Lobster rolls are lobster salad in a New England hot dog bun. A New England hot dog bun has sides that are like regular bread with the crust only on the top. They are impossible to find elsewhere. Unfortunately, we found out that Lowell’s Dairy burned down three years ago. So no lobster roll and no lunch.
Okay, after encountering a very talkative former neighbor in Hopkinton it was almost 3 PM and we still had eaten no lunch. Any place would do. We stopped at Chili’s in Framingham. We sit down. No one waits on us. We each take a turn going to the restroom. We’ve have empowered the other with our lunch order, but still no one shows. John gets up and goes over to the clutch of waitstaff and asks who is responsible for our table. Could we get someone to come over. They look at us with unseeing eyes. After another 5 minutes we give up. As we walk out, we are asked if we are all set. Yeah, all set to walk out the door.
Finally, we go out to dinner at Legal Seafoods in Park Square, Boston. The picture of the rolls and wine represent the best part of the dinner. They came in a timely fashion and were not overcooked. We ordered lobster. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally we asked our waitress about what was happening with the order. She says, oh, there’s a big party downstairs and they ordered 18 lobsters so things are backed up. Hopefully yours will be done soon. She comes back to say ours is 3rd or 4th in line. Finally it comes. It is overcooked and dry. But we are hungry!!! So we drench it in the butter so it has a little moisture.
On the way out, the hostess asks John if everything was alright. He says no. So she gets the manager. We tell him that the lobster was overcooked and the service was very slow. I mention about the large party who orders a bunch of lobsters and held up our order. He looks confused. There’s no large party downstairs. There’s no 18 lobsters. There’s only a story made up by the serving person because she screwed up the order. But the bill is already paid (with tip) and we just gave up.
Tonight we are eating at the highly acclaimed Aujourd`hui in the Four Seasons Hotel. Hopefully, we won’t be wearing red shirts.