I have to laugh . . . memories of 8 O'Clock coffee . . .
Back when I was just a child in NYC, my parents got a little savings can that was a replica of a package of 8 O'Clock coffee. It had a pronounced space of honor on the window ledge over the kitchen sink. Almost every evening, Dad would come home and drop a couple of coins in the can. (He had cans all over the house for little savings accounts, back in the days when you couldn't get money from banks over the weekend.) As we got older, we were allowed to "borrow" the occassional 50 cents to pay the paper boy when Mom and Dad weren't home.
Fast forward 50+ years later . . . Dad, who turned 80 this summer, still has the can, surviving my Mom's death, subsequent moves, and a new wife. And yes, it's still near the kitchen sink and he still drops coins in it daily. It is the grungiest thing you've ever seen and you would all say "ICK!!" or "UGH!!!" if you were to see it, but it holds a special place in my heart.
This past summer the four siblings had a sibling reunion to celebrate my brother's 50th birthday. It was the first time we had all been together for more than a couple of days/hours since we were in college. I prepared a trivia quiz (over 150 questions) of all the little bits and pieces from our childhood, family, where we grew up, etc. One of my questions was "What was the can over the sink where Dad saved money?" Each one of my siblings knew the answer!!! The 8 O'Clock coffee can!! Who bets we fight over it at some point in the future! And, on an other note, my brother took a picture when he was in high school(?) of the can, along with an old shaving mug that was also on the shelf, where Mom kept the scissors, an emory board, pencils, etc. It's especially poignant now because if you look closely, you can see a little note propped up between the two that is my Mom's menu for a Thanksgiving. Each of us has a copy of this photo.
BTW . . . my Mom did the same thing with the coffee grinder thing each week. But, our reward was that we got a coffee bean to suck on. I loved that!
