I do a lot of shopping on Amazon – A LOT… before Amazon I went to the store, I’d get in my car and head to Walmart or the grocery. The boys needed clothes, shoes, a book bag, or book no problem! I’d head to the store… and I could usually find it. Now though I shop at Amazon. I can find most things I need and as long as I have a couple days leeway I cam good. I’ve even been known to head to the store, see something and order from Amazon while in the store. Sometimes because the store was out of it, sometimes because the price was so much cheaper online. When I head to the store I do intend to buy at the store, but for big purchases or specific items I have frequently end up searching. Our book store is limited now, we only have a small fabric store with high prices, and my son is really specific on colors, characters on clothes, and even what type of fit and design his clothes have. So amazon it is…. even to find his size, I’m stuck going online. He really needs an 8 Slim now and will only wear an elastic waist. His preference is no drawstring, but I can cut that out. Try finding that around town.
While my dad was in school and his mother was still alive, the common place to get things was a catalog. My grandmother Richter would order things and if they fit, yeah! If not you wore them anyway. Items were then handed down through the kids. I remember sometime after I was in 2nd grade, my dad having a toe removed. From the story I remember it had to do with the wrong size shoes my father wore all the time while growing up. My son loves wearing his shoes too big and I can’t bring myself to make him wear shoes that might be in anyway small because of this memory.
My aunts also told a story recently about my grandmother taking them to a store in the nearby ‘big’ city. It would have a sale each year and they would drive over to stock up. My grandmother was finally learning to drive and they had a huge car. My aunts pointed out a spot where 49 turns north and mentioned that it’s where my grandmother was hit while taking them to the store and learning to drive. She never drove again. It was also just a little before she became sick. – So I’m guessing it was sometime around 1950….
While my aunts and uncles were growing up, Sears was the ‘Amazon’ of the time, just with a catalog. You could get almost anything! I remember seeing houses that were known as Sears Craftsmans – usually built by the tracks because the parts were delivered by train. The houses were ordered from the catalog.
Sears now has lost market share and is closing stores. It’s hard to believe they have gone from the giant that was the go to for moms that needed something that couldn’t be found at their local mercantile, to a closing business. It makes me wonder what the future of Amazon will hold. I did recently see an add for a ‘new’ service’, order online and pick it up immediately on site! Yep they have just reinvented the store again. Are there still new ideas to be developed?
Visiting my mother this weekend, we stopped for dinner at McDs. The local gathering point for everyone in Oakwood. While there we noticed two of my cousins having dinner – from my grandfather RIchter’s twin brother Lesley.
Getting a chance to talk to family is always high on my list! I let them know how dad was doing – not great, he wasn’t even speaking during our visit. I’m pretty sure my dad had no clue who I was. That’s never easy… I had just listened to a podcast (to get off topic) about how dementia patients can be retaught things at each stage. Talking to dad and telling him about what is going on around him, what’s happening with everyone from his life and the area should help keep some part of his mind available for a little while. I try so hard to remember while there that he may not react and may not know me or speak to me, but some part of his mind may have a spark of understanding of who I am and what I am telling him. Something to keep a little more grey cells 
alive a little longer in his brain…. Anyway back to cousins. My cousins were at dinner and we were talking about dad and the topic came up about DNA tests, family history and what our future looks like.
Family History:
We have a lot of family members with a history of stroke. My dad also has damage from a car accident when he was in his teens, and several farm accidents… My cousin’s (at dinner) mother was the one that held my dad while he was bleeding after the accident. Their father was the twin to my grandfather… Strokes are something to keep in mind as we move forward. I know I don’t have the gene tested for late onset Alzheimer’s, but that’s totally different from Vascular Dementia.
DNA Tests
Now with DNA tests you can be tested for all sorts of things that can be passed down. Luckily I found that everything that is currently in the companies list is not in my DNA, but as I mentioned to my family… I think if it had been I would then be very careful about who I told that I had been tested. My assumption is that sooner or later that data will make it out. Will it count against some people for insurance? I was lucky to be negative on everything. I can see a time though where kids who haven’t even been tested get denied for insurance because their parents were carriers for the — fill in the blank — gene. If the data is out there you have to assume that sooner or later it will be accessed. With the current climate my assumption is that it is even more likely. Your medical records already contain the answers to the questions – do you have a family history of? How long until it’s expanded to include do you know anyone that has a gene for? A company now is even offering free DNA testing to expand their database and research…. How long until the group that doesn’t know their full DNA make up is a minority?
Grandpa Richter
While talking the topic of what happened to my grandfather came up. I was in grade school (2nd grade I think) It was Oct 30, 1974 and my grandfather had a stroke walking into his house. He was half in and half out. My parents didn’t let us come see and they took care of everything. My grandfather had a housekeeper that had been taking care of him as a live in. As he passed away each of the brothers and sisters had to be tracked down to let them know… of course no cell phones. My Aunt Linda was teaching and her principle drove her over, my Aunt Dorothy had her phone off the hook and a neighbor had to be asked to run over and let her know, and my Aunt Norma was just leaving for a tractor pull in a semi. Aunt Norma and Uncle Lloyd owned a trucking company, big purple trucks, and an employee was able to reach them by CB. His passing away had been a complete surprise…
I remember going down and having the Little Debbie Oatmeal pies and the crust off his pot pies. Those two things still remind me of him. I don’t remember much about him, except those two things and pictures, but I do remember those things. He would take the crust off his pot pie and give it to me at a formica table in the kitchen. The oatmeal pies I remember being in the living room. I do remember one other thing, but it could be from years later as my aunt Linda was living in the house…. Concord grapes growing on the vine in the front yard. To this day I still love concord grapes! I can distinguish the taste from all the other grapes, I have no clue any other type of grape.
Halloween
My mom has stories about us going to my cousins (Harold and Olives) for Halloween that year while they planned everything. I don’t really remember that part, which is probably a good thing since I still enjoy Halloween. Living in the country it was rare for us to get to go trick or treating except to relatives houses. A couple years we got to go in to town and go door to door with friends. My mother tells stories about me answering peoples questions about whether we lived in Oakwood with ‘Nos’ since we lived out of town…. I now am faced with the same feeling I’m sure she felt when I take my youngest in to the parade in Oakwood. We have a place right outside town, we have been in the area forever, but anyone that asks if we live there and I know my son’s answer will be nope!
