by Kat | Mar 11, 2022 | General, Museum of Me
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Yes, today we are heading to a destination that feels light years away. Back to my pre-children life…and specifically, What I Used to Do At Work!
Once upon a time… after I was a struggling waitress, and before there were kids… I used to be a travel agent.
This was back in prehistoric travel times when travel agencies had specific computers that you could access an airlines schedule… via each individual airline (AA, UA, USAir, etc… each entity would set up an office with a terminal… yes, one of those very same clunky old things they had at the airport counter back in Olden Times)
I actually went to “travel school” at the Herman Miller Headquarters in Zeeland, Michigan (taught by the lovely woman who was, at that time, responsible for all their corporate travel). It was curiously a lengthy course, 6-weeks as I recall and it was not free! I think it cost in the area of a whopping $150 (which in the mid 80’s was a good bit of money, at least on “waitress pay!”) Anyway, I remember being more than a bit overwhelmed. Not only was there oodles of things to learn, it was the first time I ever worked with a computer. And there was so much memorization… the most important of which was all the airport codes. (Life pre-Google required a lot of brain bandwidth! lol) If you did not know the airport codes, there was no way to look them up on the computer. Really. So LOTS of memorization and yes, there were tests… about which I remember stressing over… greatly. But I passed and went on to use almost none of the things I learned in the 6-week course (outside of the airport codes) because back in that galaxy… technology was moving at warp speed. (Yes, beam me up Scotty speed!) Within a couple of months of being hired by Pathfinder’s Travel (which is still in operation and owned by the lovely, lovely, lovely gentleman who hired me) the airlines moved from having a “terminal” in our office to allowing travel agents to access their system directly via a DOS computer… (So all the things I learned for ONE airline, I now needed to learn for ALL the airlines… or at least all the airlines that serviced the airports in my area.)
I did a mix travel coordination for both corporate travelers and leisure travelers…both fun but very different clients! However, neither was the reason why any sane person would go into the travel industry. One went for the perks… which back in prehistoric times were really awesome. My office had a regular cache of dozens of tickets – honestly, more than we could use in the time allotted – and they were replenished on a regular basis.
This did not include accommodations, but a couple of phone calls and you could pair a free ticket with free or greatly reduced accommodations, car rentals, and touristy things like museums and this was how I saw a small bit of the world. Literally. Which for a girl from Holland, Michigan, living in a family that did not vacation… anywhere… it was so amazing!
NYC, Washington DC, California. Florida. Washington, Idaho, and a large chunk of Canada. Japan. British ruled Hong Kong. Mainland China (a mere two years after they opened up for tourist travel… which is a story all by itself). The Netherlands, England and Scotland are just some of the highlights of my “work benefits”.
Most of this travel I coordinated with Rachel, Heidi and Sam’s dad… before we had Rachel, Heidi, and Sam… he would be working and if there was a free ticket and I could join him away I went. I liked this kind of travel…last minute, no itinerary, no group… and most of the time it was really just me… he’d be working and I would be on my own. My gosh, good times.
I have had the incredible fortune to stay at places like The Roman Camp in Callendar Scotland (my gosh, it was divine), The Grand Hotel in Amsterdam with all it’s incredible history, The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, and The Hotel Intercontinental in Kowloon (where we had our own butler… what?!?) with a view of Victoria Harbor at night that was just magical. And I have seen Kabuki Theatre in the Ginza and stayed in a hotel next-door to the US Embassy in Tokyo (When Walter Mondale was the ambassador!)
Sometimes the perks of being just a travel agent were incredible… and they helped build some of the most amazing memories ever. Like the time I went to a koffee house in Amsterdam, but really wanted to be in a coffee house, and the lovely lovely people who enjoyed my faux pax… and just gave me coffee… yes for free. Or the time I decided I wanted to visit the Ueno Park Zoo in Tokyo…during morning rush hour…but how incredibly helpful every single person was to this very naive American…. so helpful that even the rush of workers coming up from the subway all made space for me to make my way down the stairs. Added to those memories were the life skills I learned… how to exciting it is to step outside your comfort zone and be immersed in new things.
Good times… such very good times. (And all before cell phones… yes, you read that right, before cell phones!)
Once we had Rachel… work soon ended. I did not “earn enough” to cover daycare expenses and thus began my life of Being Just a Mom for a good number of years.
And when I finally did go back to work, the travel industry had changed dramatically (with a significant reduction in those perks) and so I set my feet on a different pathway… with fond memories of what once was my my life in a galaxy far far away.
These days, the extent of my travel is limited to a quick trip to Erie… or an annual trip to Michigan. Would I like to do overseas travel again? Yes! There are so many places I’d like to go and see.
A huge thanks to Kym for these Museum of Me prompts!
Have a great weekend everyone! See you all back here on Monday!
by Kat | Feb 11, 2022 | General, Museum of Me
“Without Valentine’s Day, February would be … well, January.” — Jim Gaffigan
Welcome, Gentle Readers to the second exhibit of the Museum of Kat. We are going to be using the Way Back Machine today and I also have the BIG flash light just in case because we are going to the furthest depths of the Museum… watch your step and no lagging, please! Stay with the group so you don’t get lost on the way to our Valentine’s Day Exhibit.
You might think it is curious that we are so fixated on being loving for one day a year and if you do, I think your thoughts are on the right track! One thing I have learned in life… one day does not make love. One day does not make the year special. In fact… I think that how you show love on the other 364 days of the year are far more important than any single Valentine’s Day.
But I digress…today we are going to an exhibit on the Love of Extended Family!
So let’s go back in time… Stay together, please, the Way Back Machine can be fussy and leave some of you in an area that has not been curated… scary places, trust me!
We are going back to in time to a very much younger me…. I think I first realized that Valentine’s Day might be something to take note of was in school. Now I went to school long before anyone worried about a child’s self-esteem… suffice it to say, I never, ever brought Valentine cards to school to share with the other students. I was not the only child in this predicament… but we brought nothing, we were not allowed to participate in the “card exchange.” Sad, I know… but we all survived.
If you look at the sum of this exhibit, you might think it is very sparse on material…and you’d be right. However, it is not sparse on content. The content is incredible and despite the fact that I have been dreading this month’s exhibit because of the lack of content (I honestly worried that I’d have to post the Valentine’s Day cards from my ex… oy! lol)
But I persisted! And on a whim I opened a long forgotten box of things and found some treasures.
My sister, Susan, my Nana – Mae Jacoby-Huxhold, me, my Grandpa – Oliver Emil Huxhold, and Great-Aunt Marion Huxhold-Bollendorf. You can’t see in this photo, but my Grandpa is standing with the aid of a cane… this was the last year he could maneuver himself outdoors.
Rather than talking only about the treasures… I am going to talk about the treasure givers. I was one very blessed child to have not one, but two incredible and amazing Great-Aunts. My gosh, I loved them so much. Now… I looked high and low through so many boxes for a single picture of my Great-Aunt Sylvia (who lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin almost her entire life) but I could not find any pictures with her. What I do have is this fabulous picture from July 1965… My Nana (on the left) My Grandpa (in the back), and my Great-Aunt Marion (on the right). My sister, Susan, is in my Nana’s arms, and I am standing in front. This picture was taken at my grandparent’s house… and I remember this day very well. Aunt Marion and Aunt Sylvia were my grandpa’s sisters. Aunt Sylvia, was the second child of five, my grandpa was the middle and the youngest of two boys, and Aunt Marion was the fourth child… the second of three girls. (Oldest brother Albert, was named after their father, and youngest sister, Kathryn… who I am named after!) Aunt Marion and Aunt Sylvia were maiden aunts for most of their lives, but then came Uncle Fred Bollendorf. His first wife died, and his second marriage was to my Aunt Marion. We all loved Uncle Fred… he was the perfect addition to our family!
Whenever they came to visit my Nana and Grandpa, I always, always spent the night… and I slept downstairs with Aunt Sylvia. It was the best… that picture above… it was the first time I spent the night and Aunt Sylvia was so worried I would wake up and want to go home. But nope! I spent the entire night and in the morning we are all treated to the absolute best pancakes in the world made by my nana. The memories of time spent with these ladies are some of the sweetest ever and I cherish them!
Aunt Marion and Aunt Sylvia were the only people in my childhood who sent Valentine’s Day cards to us (My mom, dad, sister, and me) At least that is how it started.
Now I am a card saver… I think I have every card I ever received… honestly. So I am not sure what happened to any other cards they absolutely sent. All I have are these four, but I am so happy that I have them!
This card, which is 3-Dimensional, was sent to my entire family.
I have no idea what year this card might have been sent. The envelope is long gone… the price of the card though… 50 cents.
Then we have the cards that were just sent to me! Treasures, I promise you!
This sweet little bunny was from my Great-Aunt Marion
Again, I have no idea at all of a date on this card… but I believe this predate’s the “group Valentine” since the price is priceless… a whopping 15 cents!
Finally we have a card with some dates! Aunt Marion sent this in 1974 (I guess by age 13, I knew who was sending me this particular Valentine, but I love the “Guess Who”). It included a Love Stamp that in February 1974 was 8 cents. I know… it seems insane to me!
I think Aunt Marion knew I spent every moment I could in my Nana’s kitchen!
Finally, I have one single solitary card from Aunt Sylvia, which seems unlikely to me because I have dozens and dozens of letters from her. But one card was all I manage to save…
While I like the others very much, this one is my favorite.
Suffice it to say that flowers for Valentine’s Day are lovely and chocolate is too! But nothing beats these little bits of sunshine that I had all but forgotten from my childhood.
I hope you have some little bits that make you smile on Valentine’s Day too!
Thank you so much for visiting this very nostalgic exhibit. Now, if you all stay together once again the Way Back Machine will get us back to the present day! I so appreciate your taking the time to stop and listen today!
A big thanks to Kym for being the Master Curator for these posts!
Happy Early Valentine’s Day and I will see you all back here on Monday!
by Kat | Jan 14, 2022 | General, Museum of Me
I thought it might be fun to join Kym once a month and invite you all to an exhibit of My Museum…
and then I saw January’s prompt: Something you were really good at as a child (either something you still do — or something you “grew out of” doing)
Hello fun… come back here…where are you going?
Okay so in all honesty, Gentle Readers… I worked very hard at being invisible when I was a child… or I tried to excel at being invisible at all moments. (I am very certain that I have grown out of wanting to be invisible, but it took years and years and years of work.)
Second to being invisible was escaping…
The thing I found best for accomplishing both of those things was reading and though I did not read until I was well into first grade… once I began reading I discovered the incredible world of books that were just waiting to “take me away!”
Since then, with the exception of those sleep starved years of young child parenting, I have been an avid voracious reader.
I started with good old Dick and Jane and I honestly don’t remember any other books until I discovered The Little House Books, which I loved and read over and over. I also loved any book about animals, so I had a long running Black Beauty phase as well.
I then had an “angsty teen” phase with Harlequin Romance books… I know… wut?! I can’t believe I am even admitting this here! Ha!
That angsty teen phase gave way to the so much better (NOT, LOL) “bodice ripping” books which occupied my reading hours for a good many years.
And then came the kiddos… and a whole new world of books opened up. Eric Carle was a particular favorite of mine (as well as my kids!) And I just loved that the girls (especially Rachel) adored The Little House books. And then came Harry Potter! We were the ultimate Harry Potter Family! We read them aloud together each day after homework was done. The best of times were sitting around the dinner table talking about Harry’s escapades!
Once I returned to “regular adult reading,” I no longer reached for a trashy romance novel. But I really did not have a clue about what I even liked to read! So I just began reading all sorts of genres and I discovered I liked epic “style” novels. (Think Mario Puzo, John Jakes, and James Michener style novels… I loved them!) And then I fell down the “mystery” hole and have really never climbed out. I do so love a good mystery.
And when I think now that I can “go to the library” from my iPhone and check out a book it just amazes me how far reading has come! I can pick an eBook or have an audiobook read to me!
I no longer read to become invisible, but gosh Pandemic Life has absolutely reinforced that you can absolutely “escape” in a book and find yourself in a place you never imagined.
Thank you for visiting My Museum today! I hope you all have a weekend that includes some reading! See you all back here on Monday!
