The Little Red Wagon

Local photographer Charles Jackson shared the following to Twitter recently and set a flood of my childhood memories in motion.

The EC Pops car on the move on Main Street.

Photo credit Charles Jackson

Jackson describes himself as a weekend amateur photographer. He posts quite a few nature photos of the local area to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This particular photo stands out for me, not just because it isn’t the typical nature shot, but because of its subject: a popcorn wagon.

I don’t know the origin of this story, but, all through my childhood my parents would tell anyone who asked that their goal in retirement was to own and operate a popcorn wagon. I have no idea why. I can’t imagine them doing such a thing. They must have had a transformative experience back in their courting years that had to do with a popcorn wagon. Or perhaps it seemed appealing and restful compared to the life they were leading at the time. Maybe, just maybe, it was a secret joke between the two of them that they never revealed to their offspring.

They certainly both liked popcorn. Perhaps they just wanted to be close to an endless supply.

I don’t know what they would have thought about the EC Pops Popcorn Car. It certainly wasn’t what they would have envisioned. I suspect this is more what they had in mind:

Image from Used Vending.com

My parents had some specific lifelong dreams that were never fulfilled. My father wanted to own a house with a sunken bathtub. My mother wanted to visit San Francisco. They both yearned to travel around in a “motor home” - - now they are called RVs. Every so often we’d spend a weekend afternoon touring unit after unit, imagining life on the road.

It never happened.

Nor did they share picturesque golden retirement years traveling around with a popcorn wagon. My father died of COPD long before retirement age.

Seeing the photo of EC Pops Popcorn car reminded me of that sadness, of my parents’ dreams that never came true. But it also made me smile. Someone out there in this world wanted a popcorn wagon and, by golly, they have one.

Living the dream, I guess.

You can visit EC Pops in Old Ellicott City where they sell a variety of Maryland-themed gift items in addition to their famous popcorn. (They also have two other locations in Fells Point and Cockeysville.)

Do you have any quirky dreams like this? How are they coming along?

Village Green/Town² Comments

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

Columbia Chance Connection

Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!” We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog