Natalee (aka The Dairy Queen) college neighbor and friend, asked me to "paint whatever you think of when you think of mom and dad". Larry and Gale were the owners of The Dairy Queen in Milan when I arrived in Tennessee and it was their lives. In fact my very first memory of Natalee involved her telling a group of fellow freshmen that she grew up in The Dairy Queen. Let's think about this for a second. Given my intense love for ice cream-and having just moved 8 hours from the mecca of all things deliciously cream based and frozen,(Braums) I figured this meeting was some how divinely appointed. As I sat miserably homesick in that room, listening to the words come out of her mouth was like soothing ointment to my soul. "My (this is Natalee talking now so the "I" sound in "My" is quite pronounced "M-eye" parents own the Dairy Queen in Milan, that's about 30 minutes from here" she said. WHAT? I thought. 30 MINUTES AWAY? SWEET!!! I looked around that room in disbelief-the others seemed unimpressed with her status-"She's the daughter. of. the owners. of. THE DAIRY QUEEN." I wanted to point at her and shout to the others. I tried not to judge them. "Perhaps they don't love ice cream like me," I thought. Which is perfectly understandable, no one does really. Through a couple of other social groups Natalee and I did become friends and during my first semester at Union we were "across the sidewalk neighbors". We spent a good bit of time at the Dairy Queen.
Over the next few semesters, I transitioned from one of the group at the Dairy Queen who came over to eat and cook and study. (oh yes they let us have free reign of the joint after closing time and of course I liked to pretend I worked there as a grill cook) (I'm not going to say I would pretend to be a chef at a hibachi grill and pretend to do fancy tricks with the onions and clang my spatula on the grill as I sang back the order I was just given. It was sort of "Show Guns meets Waffle House" good times)...As I was saying I slowly transitioned from hanging out at the restaurant to going HOME with Natalee. Geographically it wasn't much different, the Nichoalson's house was just a concrete stair case away from the DQ. But once inside the house, to me, I was family. Yes, family. I was no longer a friend of Natalee's to be treated as a guest. I was part of them. And I was glad.
My parents always welcomed our friends, we always had a house full, between sisters and friends and sisters of friends I was accustomed to a crowd and as is still the case today, I would get home sick from time to time. The Nichoalson's helped with that. Nat has a brother, Lee and a sister, Heather and of course they were always around with friends.
I remember when Miss Gale told me she had gotten a super capacity washer and dryer so I might as well plan to bring my clothes and wash them at her house, while I was there doing laundry I would eat dinner. I took her up on the offer. I don't remember what we had to eat but I do remember a few random details about our weekly meals. Mr. Larry was always in and out of the house running back down the steps to the DQ then back to the table for another bite of food. Miss Gale had learned some sort of color code system for preparing a balanced meal-the way she told that story made me laugh. Miss Gale also made this tea-Oh my goodness! I was quite at home there-eventually coming to visit even when there was no laundry to be done and Natalee was away for the summer. And after she moved to Memphis. No matter how often I came Miss Gale always made that tea. and she never let me serve my self. It was instant tea, the powder kind, but she served it in a heavy bottom glass with the perfect amount of ice and I loved it.
What comes to mind when I think of Larry and Gale is yea, their love of course, I mean they were married for what like 100 years? The DQ, and the three children of their own along with the dozens of kids like me, who consider themselves part of the family.
Thanks Nat, for being a part of the project. I love you!
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