A Long Glimpse Back

We had a nostalgic night.  Johnny decided he wanted liver and onions so 4:30 p.m. off we went.  We pulled into the diner parking lot along with four other cars so I guess we aren't the only seniors that eat so early.  The waitress told us to seat ourselves which is right down my control freak alley.  The feature of the days was goulash and since L&O didn't sound all that great, I decided to try it.  What a kick back in time............and it was good...............reminding me of the good old days when macaroni and ground beef could make a great meal for a lot of people.  Simple times, simple meals.   


Still in this "nostalgic mood", a drive up to Heritage Park Mall seemed in order.  It was here that my little family spent many happy hours when our lives were ahead of us.  So much of Oklahoma City to explore and the world awaited us.  Now, the mall is no more and the only remaining store is Sears...........BUT WAIT...........WHAT IS GOING ON?  Tons of cars there.  We hadn't seen that many cars since Christmas, 1988.  We must go in!


Sadly, we found out that they were closing their doors forever on 3 September 2017 and I guess people suddenly thought they were going to discover the bargain of a lifetime, but my thought ran along these lines; if you people (we) had been shopping like this all these years, then the store wouldn't be closing.


We took a long glimpse back taking time just to look around, not for bargains, but looking back...remembering.  There was a display of folding trays and a lump formed in my throat remembering the time when my parents had them on their Christmas list.  What a wonderful memory.  Looking at the clothes I was reminded that when I was a child, Sears was pretty much the crème de la crème.  Another lump.  Craftsmen tools were purchased every Christmas for at least one man since I started shopping on my own.  Appliances were never purchased until we had compared them with the Kenmore.  A new Sears school coat was a must for our children until they got old enough pick out their own.  We poured over the Sears catalog for days at a time with my sisters and me picking one outfit per page.  Even mom had fun doing this.  We didn't start our Christmas wish list until we'd seen the Sears ad in the Thanksgiving Day paper.  When I was a child the Sears Santa was the best......and did I tell you that my Grandpa Dawkins knew him?  Huge lump!! 


Johnny said our little walk through Sears reminded him saying goodbye to an old friend who you no longer have much in common.  So with that we will say goodbye to our local Sears store. 


I love you.


The mall has been closed for years now, but if you go to Sears before 3 September, you will see a glimpse of the mall through the curtains.  A tiny sliver that draws me......oh I wish I could go through that sliver, walk the mall even with the dust and cob webs before the cob webs cloud my memories.  So tonight we had our last glimpse of the mall, we had our last glimpse of the Midwest City Sears, we had our last glimpse back. Soon the curtain will be closed forever.



After we left Sears we drove slowly around the mall.  Why couldn't somebody save it?  The huge parking lot that used to be completely filled at Christmas now has grass and weeds in the cracks.  The glass windows and doors boarded up.  How could anything so vibrant now be just an ugly eye sore?  Sad. 


“But I also knew that there was no going back.  One can never go back; nothing and no one is ever the same.  All that remained was an occasional evening of sadness, the sadness that we all feel because everything passes and because man is the only animal that knows it."  "Shadows in Paradise", a novel by Erich Maria Remarque.