When I was just a mini kid, there was something in my life that gave me pretty much all of the things I want in my adult life. This something was going to Willie’s Wee-Nee Wagon with my dad and my brother.
It was our special thing, my mother and sisters never went. We would hop into the car, buckle in and take a quick 10 minute trip to go get some hotdogs. There wasn’t anything particularly special about these hotdogs. No magic ingredient that made them any better than your standard hotdog. They weren’t exclusive or expensive. Nothing that would make them out of the ordinary in any way, shape or form. It was just something that the three of us would do from time to time for, seemingly, no particular reason.
My dad wouldn’t take us as a reward for doing something good or nice. It wasn’t intended to be a bribe for future good behavior. We didn’t go to get out of the house or to elevate boredom during the lazy days of summer. We went, “just because”.
We’d arrive, park in an crab grass infested field next to the wagon, place our order, load up the condiments that have stayed outside a bit longer than the board of health would have preferred, sip our soda pops, shoo the flies and wasps away and just enjoy the best hotdogs in the world. Just the three of us eating, talking, getting ketchup on our shirts and enjoying each others company.
I miss the way those trips to the Wee-Nee Wagon made me feel. It was special to me because it seemed to be special to my dad. That time spent with my father and my brother, talking about sports, school, neighborhood events and sometimes, talking about nothing at all, was some of the best time I’ve spent in my life. It was simple and easy to just be happy while eating those hotdogs.
My biggest regret in life is losing that ability to find something special in something so simple as a quick trip for hotdogs. I don’t know exactly where or when I’ve lost that ability. It seems like, the older I get and the more complicated my life becomes, the harder it is for me to get back to feeling that way. Relationships grow in complexity, stress is always in the background, pondering the great mysteries of who I am and what I want to be weights heavy on my shoulders.
I’ve worked long and hard to make myself into the man I wanted to become. I have seen the best this world has to offer as well as the worst. I have done a great many number of wonderful things. I’ve also fallen flat on my face, stuck there without a way to pull myself up again. I’ve met great men that I would consider as brothers and I have shed tears when they were laid to eternal rest. I’ve loved with the intensity of the grandest scales only to see that love wither and fade away due to situations beyond my control. I’ve been around the world only to return to the exact place where I started from, turned around and headed out again.
The thing is, all I really want to do is go eat some hotdogs and be happy again. I know that time is in the past and I cannot go back again. I’ve accepted the facts of life that go along with adulthood. I just hope that, one day, I’ll find that joy and happiness again in a new form and place.
Maybe one day, when I settle down and start a family of my own, I’ll take my children out for a quick treat for no other reason than, “just because”.
I’m thinking ice cream. I like ice cream.
Filed under: Blogging, Life, Relationships, What my father taught me
You brought back some good memories for me. It was going into town to eat ice cream and watch the people from the back seat of my parents station wagon for us. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Maybe what we get to do is give someone else that memory by trying to recapture it for ourselves, eh?
No comments is so sad.
This side is so real , down to earth. I truly hope you find that place. Yeah, ice cream IS good.
Won’t matter where you go Tommy- ‘just because’ treats are the best…
Icecream is good because it’s messy. Messy food just adds to the joy, when you’re a kid.
I understand where you’re coming from. I think a lot about those ‘mini kid’ times (love that term, btw) and yearn for the uncomplicated joy that life was back then.
Now I find it in different places. Mainly in my garden with my hands in the soil. I’m alone, but it’s the closest thing I’ve found….
This was lovely. Poignant, indeed.
I always think back to the “mini kid times” you talk about. I call those GOOD TIMES! Some of my memories were the club houses me and some of my friends in the old neighborhood had, that is until I caught the woods on fire. OMG! That’s a blog I will have to share with you.
Those were times we didn’t realize were gonna be our best of times! Our fondest memories!
Oh, and I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing, but there’s something very funny about the name “Willie’s Wee-Nee Wagon”…. *snicker*
T4F- Thanks for stopping by. It kind of hard to tell what’s better, having those memories or sharing them. They’re both good.
Nancy- Maybe I’ll find it again, maybe I won’t. I do have hope though.
AM- They are the best, aren’t they?
Vanessa- I thought that swimming did that for you? Oh and feel free to use “mini kid” as often as you like.
Thanks for the compliment. Considering the source, that means a lot to me.
AB- The funny thing is, I think those were the best times because you weren’t trying to put them in some context or taking future event into consideration. You were just living in the moment and enjoying it. It’s the hindsight that ranks those kinds of event, but when you’re in them, hindsight doesn’t matter.
Oh, swimming does… you’re right. I don’t get to swim every day at the moment though and I do get to spend time with my plants every day, so that is more in the forefront of my mind right now, I guess…
It was really lovely to see you talk a little more from the heart. And you do it so well. xxx
I actually googled Willie\’s Wee Nee Wagon and came up with your blog. I grew up close to there and, like you, have many fond memories of hot dogs and cheeseburgers at the old wagon. I haven\’t been back in that area in more than 20 years and wondered if you, or anyone else, knew if it still existed? I heard that some years ago the name changed but that it was still more or less as is. Thanks.