Nehi Grape Summers

Pin It I was just sitting here annoying my husband who is trying to play a game and I keep interrupting him by talking to him. The cat jumped up on my lap and was looking all miffed at me because I wasn't moving to make her more comfortable. This made me think of a sign my grandparents used to have in their antique store:

"This establishment is maintained solely for the comfort and convenience of our cats."

This, of course, made me remember the antique store. I loved that store. Treasures UNTOLD in there, although to be honest, I was more interested in the junk than in the actual good stuff. I think they tried to help us see the difference, but hey, shiny junk is just a lot prettier to a little kid than old looking stuff!

Actually, I'm still quite drawn to shiny junk, and I know there's a spiritual application there, but that will have to be for another day, because that would mean that this post has a point, and it really just plain doesn't.

My grandparents had a coke machine out in front of their store, and I remember at least when I was a little kid, that it dispensed bottles rather than cans. Their store was the only place in the world where I could get Nehi Grape Soda. Thinking back, I'm not even sure I really liked Nehi Grape Soda, but the novelty of being at the antique store and that being the only place I knew of that had Nehi Grape Soda was just the coolest thing ever.

I remember visiting over the summer and my cousin and I hanging out, ostensibly helping, but really in the way, although my grandparents would never have told us that. We'd drink our weight in grape soda and stay underfoot for the whole time we were there. I remember my grandmother told me the code to her pricing - there was a city, and each letter in the name of the city corresponded to a number, so they could put on the price tag, in code, how much they paid for the item. This made bartering easy. (Now I'm racking my brain trying to remember the city name they used ... dad? Do you remember? How many cities have ten letters with no repeats?)

It's funny the things you remember, and the things that stick in your mind, and that something like the cat jumping into my lap can take me back so many years!

I miss my grandparents. :(