My toes touched something hidden in the grass during a chilly 2021 barefoot stroll around the backyard. It was a tree. Well, its shape reminded me of broccoli, which my daughter Sara used to call “trees”. I have to admit there is a resemblance between one of her vegetables of choice and many children’s favorite tree, the evergreen.

While my memory could have meandered into Christmas moments, yesterday it landed me on the escalator inside the grand old Pogue’s Department Store at the corner of 5th and Vine. In the mid-1980’s Sara and I left the suburbs to visit Fountain Square and the surrounding shops in downtown Cincinnati a few times a year.

We made a day out of it and always stopped in for a mother-daughter meal at the Soup and Salad Bar on the 6th floor. It was a crescent moon-shaped lunch counter with a dozen stools and one server...modest in décor and price compared to the store’s upscale Camargo Tea Room with its tableclothed four-tops and silver candlesticks.

While the regulars who popped in for a workday lunch may have considered the cuisine ordinary, to us it was something special. After treating myself to a cut and style appointment at the 7th floor Beauty Salon, I usually had the soup of the day and considered their country vegetable to be close to my mother’s recipe. Sara seemed to always want a Cobb Salad because “it has the most yummy stuff in it”.

The diners around us found it quite unusual for a child Sara’s age (maybe 5 or 6) to be enjoying a variety of vegetables so much. Over the years she has continued to be adventurous and willing to try different foods, and to love her veggies.

The three men in her family…not so much.

Husband Ben will try anything as long as it is chocolate.

Lincoln’s 2 year old taste buds had definitely leaned toward macaroni and cheese. He tried most anything, but mac and cheese together or separately was his default.  He’s still often a member of the “clean plate club”. Literally.

One of Oliver’s favorite meals at 7 (and still at 13) was Skyline Chili with shredded cheddar cheese and crackers, of course. Even though we can buy the local restaurant’s recipe frozen or canned to fix at home, there’s something about eating it in the restaurant that makes it more special.

I’m not sure who instigated their family’s tradition of having ice cream every night of each vacation, but it’s one choice the whole family can agree on. Or on any night really. (Just realized that Sara’s not in any of these photos…must be snapping all of them while slurping her own ice cream.)

I’m with them on that. Love me some ice cream…mint chocolate chip, anyone? Slurp, slurp!

(That was Oliver’s and my favorite flavor and something else to add to our What We Have In Common List besides curly hair and our love of cinnamon spice tea! It’s also now 8 year old Lincoln’s favorite along with Gramma peeled tangerines waiting for him in the school pickup line on Tuesdays.🍊)

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I’d love to support you in following the flow of memories through the years to those “slurping good times” that bring you joy in the remembering. Let’s get started today capturing those ordinary moments that become special, just because you experienced them with people you love.

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Katie

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