Susan Gondek Smith HOME STORIES
As I already mentioned, Kathy and I had a very bad habit of staying up late and suffering the consequences the next day. One of our favorite "field trips" was going to Stump's Superfoods around 11 PM. It was the first 24 hour grocery in the Dayton area and really impressive in the 70's. Kathy always drove her station wagon, so there was plenty of room for groceries in the back. There was a woman that worked the night shift that we dearly loved. She was always commenting on your every purchase. If you bought corn on the cob, she would ask if you were sure that you had enough butter. If you bought ham, she would say "Sure would taste good with a can of baked beans". If you bought cake or even a cake mix, she would say "Don't forget the ice cream" I don't know if we ever knew her name, but she had grey hair and so we fondly referred to her as Grandma.
One night I must have run out of Pepsi. I was a Pepsiaholic in those days. So we went to Stump's, but not really for grocery shopping, just a late night junk run. It occurred to us, as we approached the check-out that Grandma was going to send us back if we didn't have at least one protein in our cart. Grandma was, all on her own, a pretty interesting character. But Kathy and I had built her into something much more. She had become our own personal "What would Grandma do?" larger than life creation. So, Kathy grabbed a package of lunch meat. And we happily, laughingly proceeded to the check out. Now we could not, would not stop laughing. We could no longer look at each other, the junk in the cart, the lunch meat or Grandma without gut busting laughter. Grandma didn't know what to do with us. But we knew she still cared because she did ask Kathy if she had bread for her lunch meat to make sandwiches.
Ellen, LOVE the website! Thank you for putting it together, it brings back so many wonderful memories. When I saw the picture of Jasmine and Kathy, I remembered another funny story that Kathy liked to tell. After Jack was born, for a short time, Kathy picked Jasmine up for school. She taught in the same building on Shiloh Drive where Jasmine attended an 18 month to 3 years class. It was a huge favor to me, but Jasmine was only 2 years old, and not happy with the idea. She thought of Kathy as a Mommy "distraction" and would tell Kathy when she came over, as she walked up on the front porch, "My Mommy's not home". So day after day Kathy would report that try as she might to engage Jasmine in a pleasant morning conversation, Jasmine would not speak to her on the drive to school. One day, as they traveled down Riverside past the Little Miami, Jasmine said to Kathy, "That's not your river, that's my Daddy's river". Kathy loved to tell that story and she and Jasmine grew amazingly close over the years. Jasmine was so pleased when she was home for the holidays to find a book that Kathy had inscribed for her graduation.
JUNE 1995 ALL RIGHT, JASMINE! HIGH SCHOOL IS THE BORING PART - YOU'RE FINISHED WITH THAT!! ON TO LIFE AND LIFE ONLY! WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, KATHY