The Mousetrap continued...

What a difference~~~a day (or so) makes. All I can say about VP Al Gore's announcement is that he is even more of a class act than ever. What a dazzlingly smart cookie he is!! He will now wield his considerable experience and power with the Democratic party and that will be good for the country and the people. OK, that's enough of that.

Did I ever spill my guts about when I ran away from home when I was 18? I don't think so. Well anyway, I did. I developed a crush on the trombone player with Lawrence Welk's band----yeah, you heard me----Lawrence Welk's band. Memory of how I met this guy from the band is fuzzy, but it was intense, anyway. When the band went back to New York, I decided it might be groovy to go there, too.

My parents were at their lake cottage for a couple days and a cousin and her husband were taking care of the grocery store my folks owned at the time. We lived in the back. They just came over to open the store and do that stuff. I was alone the rest of the time, so it was easy to just take off. Unfortunately, (I learned later), the doberman pinscher we had at the time wouldn't let my cousins into the house.......the dog thought it was his duty to tear them to shreds if they came thru the doorway..

Anyway!! I took the train to The Big Apple. Checked into a very prim and proper Hotel for Women, one of many that bloomed around the city and supposedly kept young ladies from being corrupted, as they would be in just any old hotel. *snort -- giggle*. After all that trouble of coming to town, the torrid affair with the trombone player did not pan out. And the band left for other ports of call, anyway. So I went out to find a job. (I am still astonished at my enormous lack of common sense)

I found a job in a women's wear show room. This was the place where material for women's dresses, et al, were spread out on huge tables and cut from a pattern. Then sewed. When there were enough clothes to "show" to buyers, they would come and order whatever they liked for their stores.

Several other girls and myself would put on one of the new dresses or whatever and parade around in front of the buyers. In fact, I modeled a forest green faille suit I liked, so bought it. Paid wholesale for it, of course. It cost me $7.00, the same suit showed up at Lord & Taylors for $29.95. Talk about markup? Don't forget now, this was 1948, and $29.95 for a woman's suit was big time stuff.

Actually, I was kind of having fun, although a bit lonely. I don't know how my Dad did it, but he found me. He said I should probably come home. So we did. On the train. He was disappointed in me, but didn't shout or hurl invectives or anything, although his voice was pretty reproachful when he talked about my cousins' run-in with the dog. It was more his whole attitude that made ME feel really ashamed, though. I have no idea how he did that.

The next time I wanted to "find myself", I did it the right way, I joined the Air Force. And I suspect there are some stories there, too!.