Come Together

Yesterday my Facebook status read...

There are some places you can go and totally be yourself ~ no expectations and no judgement. Last night was one of those nights so thank you Tracey for hosting our little girls reunion and thanks to Susan, Krista, KellieAnn, Tammy, Kim & Laurie for showing up ~ sharing stories and making us all laugh ~ what a wonderful group of friends. — feeling blessed.

I have talked about this group of friends before

they are the ones that you love to see ~ not just to play

"remember when"

but to invest in their lives ~ find out what is new

how are the folks, the kids, the pets

sharing stories

I always say thank goodness for FB for helping us keep in touch

and plan gatherings like this one and the lunch date I had last month

Kim, Sue, Kellieann, Krista, Tracey, Lori & Tammy out front

I got all sappy at one point of the evening and said

you know ~ I wasn't worried about having to have my nails done

or my hair coloured

I could come here in sweats and know that I would be welcomed

with open arms

we have seen each other at our best and our worst

in happy times and sad ones

we have wiped away tears and baby spit up

we talked about everything under the sun

who have you seen?  do you know where so and so is now?

music ~ what are you listening to?

tv shows ~ don't you just love Deacon on Nashville?

and of course we did a LOT of reminiscing as well

I have a hat box full of trinkets from my 17 years of working here

and leave it to Kellieann to dig into it and surprise us all out in the gazebo

with a little impromptu fashion show

this is Laurie ~ closest thing I had to a big sister for a whole lotta years

she was my manager ~ my mentor ~ my friend

she was the one that would give me an 11 am wakeup call on Sunday mornings

when I was a carefree single living on my own

good times ~ good times

I miss that we do not see each other that often anymore

but with 2 kids ~ involved in sports ~ well there you have it

she does have a new puppy so we talked about a dog park date soon!

we missed a few that were able to make it last time but not this one

and a few that were planning to come but couldn't

the only way to remedy that is to have another one sooner than later

looking at these pictures make me smile

I truly am blessed.

xo

Eaton's

I am feeling a bit nostalgic today

you know I sometimes spend
too much time looking into the past
but this part of my past was
so rewarding and basically where
I grew up

from a sassy teenager
to a competent woman

well...

I like to think I am competent!

When I was 17
I got a part time job at a department store
it was not one that I had spent much time in
but somehow fate placed me here

it was a family run business
and it was called Eaton's


Here I am
all of 18 years old

(1984)

I worked in the Bedding & Linen department
then on to draperies

I worked my way from a part timer
to a full time supervisor
that was 1987


I thought I would stay there
until I figured out what I wanted to be
when I grew up

17 years later
I was still there
and was a manager

I made a lot of friends
ones that will last a life time

this is Laurie and I
at a coworkers wedding
she taught me a lot
I looked up to her

in 1999
while I was on vacation
I received a call
to come back to work

my vacation was canceled
it was all hands on deck
the company had claimed bankruptcy
and a liquidator was coming in

we knew things were not good
I had said since June
that we were up the creek without a paddle
and the falls were ahead
I just was not sure how far ahead they were...

we closed the doors here
on October 2nd
a very sad day indeed

this is Kim & I
the week before we left
there was laughter
and many tears

last year a group of the girls got together
we looked at pictures
reminisced
sang and danced
and just had fun

I am so grateful that
I had this time
and met these people
ones that I can always be myself with

we have been to each others weddings
and were there for each other in times of grief

this is a statue of Timothy Eaton
that use to sit at the
Toronto Eaton Centre store
people would rub his left toe
for good luck

it now sits in the
Royal Ontario Museum

back in it's heyday
you could buy a house
from the Eaton's catalogue
this is one from 1919

Built in 1917, the Neils Hogenson House
was ordered from the Eaton's Catalogue,
and sent as a kit.
Located in Sterling, Alberta

the stores were fixtures
in every major Canadian city

this is the flagship store
in Toronto

a shot from inside the
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church

~*~*~*~*~

This place holds a piece of my heart
and I will always be
an Eatonian



xo