More Monday Madness

It’s the Monday Memory …

This one sounds really odd… but what is your first memory of McDonalds? Some of you will have always had McDonalds in your life, others of us saw it coming, as something new, and supposedly exciting… what’s your memory?

We were not much into fast food when I was growing up. McDonalds were always around, so I have no idea of my first memory of them. However …

We used to do a lot of hiking up in the San Gabriel mountains above LA when I was a kid. My Dad loves the outdoors, and actually was considering becoming a forest ranger at one point.

There was a period of time when we’d stop by McDonalds on the way home from a hiking trip. We wouldn’t actually go in, but we’d park, my Mom would go in and order, and bring the food out and we’d eat in the car.

Now this was incredibly memorable for a variety of reasons, but most of all because we never ate in the car. Never. My Dad is — well, one of his quirks is his love of a clean car. He details the cars every Sunday. It’s very therapeutic for him. So eating in the car was, as a general rule, akin to attacking the upholstery with knives …

My brother and I would sit in the back seat. Mom would drap a big bed spread over our laps. We’d get our burgers and fries and shakes (this was pre-Meal days, so folks actually drank shakes with their burgers — and, besides, it was less likely to get spilled than a Coke) and sit there and quietly, neatly eat, parked in the parking lot.

I’m not sure why we didn’t eat inside. Of course, this was back in the Stone Age, and I remember, vaguely, the idea of restaurant space inside of McD’s as being a fairly radical occurance, along with McDs that had the “small” signs. So maybe the one we hit on the way home from the mountains didn’t have inside seating.

At any rate, we didn’t drive while eating. Instead, we’d finish, Mom would shake out the blanket and throw out the wrappers and other debis, and we’d head home.

I’ve had a secret fondness for McDs ever since.