Detroit | Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

2019 Week 2: Childhood Memories – A Walk Back in Time.

Most of us have childhood memories. Some good. Some bad. Some make us laugh. Some make us cry, but we have them. This week’s Marketing for Romance Writers 52-Week Blog Challenge topic gives us a chance to talk about them. #MFRWauthor Link to 2017 Childhood Memory post.

I’m walking back in time today with a bittersweet memory of my oldest brother, Bob. I’m a middle child between two brothers with a nine-year span between me and the oldest. A brother born between us passed away as an infant, and I have a brother three years younger than me. I don’t mention my bad-to-the-bone troublemaking older brother often, but that isn’t why I don’t talk about him. I didn’t know him. My dad sent him away when I was only five or six.

My dad wanted to get him out of Detroit and away from the gang-like life he wanted to live. Instead of dealing with him, he let my stern grandma straighten him out in her little village where she lived on a lake in Northern Michigan. The last thing my brother needed was a small town to control, and a grandmother who couldn’t handle him. Via hearsay, he’d found the bad of the bad to hang with while living there until he joined the Army.

My memory isn’t about the bad in him. It’s about him being my big brother, my protector, and the day Dad sent him away. I can’t remember the goings-on before we piled out the door to go to Michigan Central Station. It’s possible they never told me this would be forever, but I figured it out.

My memory is about saying good-bye to my brother and walking through the train station holding his hand. He got on the train. Just like that, we left, but I kept pulling my mom or dad’s hand, lagging back, and yelling that we had to wait for Bob. Then we left. If one of them hadn’t had my hand, I might’ve run back to grab him off the train or get on and go with him.

Brian W. Schaller [FAL], from Wikimedia Commons

I kept looking back, looking back, looking back, and crying for him. Later, when we got home, I closed the kitchen door and sat on the basement step and cried and cried, which was unusual for me because I’d never go to the basement at night alone, let alone close the door and sit in the dark. I wouldn’t eat. I missed him so. My heart had broken over losing my big brother.

I grew up without my oldest brother, but I’ll cut it off by saying we stayed in contact throughout my teen and adult life. He’d had a rough life and lived to be a senior adult though died at a young age by today’s standards. I’m the one who has his ashes. Oddly, he had made his home in Northern Michigan near to where he’d been sent to live with our grandma.

This old train station has quite a history. Are you interested in knowing if this magnificent building is still standing? You’ll find updated information at the link below.

From Dan Austin at Historic Detroit.Org:

For 75 years, the depot shipped Detroiters off to war, brought them home, took them on vacation and sent them off to visit Grandma.

Oh, if they only knew…

Thank you for reading.

This is a blog hop, baby. We have new participants this year! What happens when they walk back in time to share a childhood memory? Let’s find out HERE.

Michigan Central Station, Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Credit: Brian W. Schaller

Brother and sister Credit: Pixaba

Playing with another Plinky Prompt today: Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met? I do need to change this a little: Who are the most famous people you’ve ever met?

Well, my friends that would have to be the former Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman and his team. (Steve was still the captain at this event.) It was a benefit banquet for Hospice and all the players were there, including the recent, now former captain Nick Lidstrom. Nicklas has the most beautiful blue eyes I think I’ve ever seen, and a smile to knock your socks off. Actually, I gave one of my book heroes his eyes. It doesn’t stop there because I met the whole team, including the owner Mike Ilitch and his wife. They conversed with me like we were old friends, and Mike signed my jersey. Karen Newman was even there but we didn’t speak. A large crowd swarmed around her. She’s the gorgeous blonde who sings the National Anthem at their home games. If my memory proves me right the coach, Scotty Bowman, also joined the guys.

Oh, the pictures I have are grand. Of course, like all my past photos they’re printed out and packed away somewhere. My signed jersey is all I have for proof right now until I can find and scan my pictures.

The banquet was totally awesome. At the time Darren McCarty was also one of my favorite players. His signature was the first on my jersey. What a terrific man he was that night. He and Kris Draper were playing a video game, and I think Chris Osgood (goalie) was there too. I patiently waited beside Darren. I found the nerve to ask if I could have a photo with him. He said, “Sure, when I’m finished.” I continued to wait, and wait…thinking it probably wouldn’t happen because he was really involved with the game, and after all, he was Darren McCarty, part of the “grind line”. The next thing I knew he turned to me, put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me tight, and said, “Okay,” and smiled a big smile. Do I have to tell you how fast my heart beat? Which cloud I found my feet on?

Brendan Shanahan was there too. Yes, we’re talking about the team that won back-to-back Stanley Cups. Federov came later. Larry Murphy has the cutest smile. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a room with that many handsome gentlemen. These big burly men, who can check another player into oblivion, rip their gloves off and go one-on-one or five, can send a puck high into the stands– mingled there altogether in one room as perfect gentleman. What a handsome bunch.

It took days for me to come down from Cloud nine.

The former Captain Steve Yzerman is the friendliest, most down-to-earth man you’d ever want to meet. This banquet took place at Game Spot at Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, MI. It was a grand-opening. I don’t think it’s there anymore. One of the games was a motorcycle ride where you actually sat on a bike in front of a screen. You looked at a screen and had to steer to stay on the road you were riding on. You’ve probably seen this with race cars where you get in a car and try to stay on the track. Well, standing there by Steve that night made for one of my most memorable pictures. It looked like I was on the back of a motorcycle with Stevie. (That’s what we Wing’s fans call him.) Don’t think I didn’t play on that for awhile!

The whole night stands at the top of my list of best memories in my life. You won’t see some of these guys on the ice anymore, but the next time you do see a rough and tough hockey player, remember who they are when they’re out there serving their public.

Now, shall I continue on about the time I met Dale Earnhardt Jr.–Jimmy Johnson–Isaiah Thomas? A celebrity news anchor—Alan Trammel– Ernie Harwell…? There are more….

*Sigh* Memories.

If you’re a Steve Yzerman fan, I think you’ll enjoy this video tribute to his career. You know, for the memories. You’ll find another for Nicklas Lidstrom at his link above. He retired this year, 2012.

How about you? Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?

The credit for this video is at this link.