Back in December of 1978 or ’79, I was sharing an apartment with my best friend Ray. His room was at one end of the place & mine at the other extreme. All eight windows faced the main street, and with the apartment being on the 4th floor, we received all the cold and winds. The place was almost always freezing. One of us had a fake, in-the-box, Christmas tree that one could ‘easily’ put together in ‘no time.’ We decided to set it up. In somewhat of a jiffy, it was up and going. We proudly stood back and admired it. “Not bad,” we thought, & we high-fived. Ray left for the day. Some hours later, my cousin June walked in and stared at it for a moment saying, “Why are there so many gaps in that tree?” I thought it looked good. Must be his eyes, I figured. The more he looked at it, the more convinced he felt that something was wrong. “That’s it!” he shouted. That tree is upside down!!! I couldn’t believe it!! After all, two ‘Pros’ had done the honors! June showed me the reason for all the gaps. All the branches were shooting down instead of upwards. The tree was small at the bottom and wider at the top!! We laughed and laughed. How could we have missed that?! When Ray got home, I had him look at the tree again and then explained it all to him. More laughs followed! I guess the winter cold had gotten to us! Poor tree!
*Actually, the tree was upright as it should be, but the branches were inserted shooting downward instead of up. The bottom ones scraping the floor!
On a different day, it was 3 degrees out and I had stayed at my parents’ apartment. As of 10 a.m., Ray had not been up and about. So, I took June up to see if he was alive or had frozen to death that night. There was no heat or hot water in the building. When we found him, he was face-down on his bed bundled head to toe with his comforter and blankets, and was cold as ice. We told him what the temperature was and then proceeded to turn on the stove and place a pot with water on it to heat the place. We were able to thaw him out! Another freezing day in our apartment! What are friends for?!
On either the same day, or on another freezing one, with Ray out again. My cousin decided to help me bake a cake!!! We did it without a hitch. Then I realized we were missing frosting. June said, “That’s easy, just make it from scratch!” He asked for chocolate and other ingredients and proceeded to create a batch. It wasn’t bad. What was BAD, was everything around us: Since we had no hot water or heat, the sinks and counters were packed with dirty utensils, pots, plates, and cups! Chocolate was in abundance! There was no way we could wash with ice-cold water! Then, ‘Along Came Jones!’ As the saying goes, Ray walked in! He said one of his favorite phrases; something like, “Holy Moly!” “What happened here?” Then he said, “You guys are going to clean up this place!!” We either waited until the next day or heated water and took turns pouring it while the other person washed them.
I shared this memory (and the ones above) with Ray last night and he remembers well! What he doesn’t remember though, was eating of that cake. I think June and I ate it all! It goes to show that even in the cold & icy regions of your lives, you can create great memories. You may fail to see any humor or fun in them now, but give it time! I firmly believe you can bake your cake and eat it too!
Later! My brownies are waiting!
God Bless!
Merry Christmas,
Sam