When I was young we lived in a rural community. Our little "town" if you could call it that, had about 200 people in it. Our house was at the end of one of the 5 streets and was bordered on one two sides by farm fields.
There was a tiny grocery store, just a mom and pop place. They sold a little fresh meat, cold cuts, and a few canned goods. And popsicles. I remember that! But George's store is a story for another day...
We had milk delivery service. Our milkman was Ernie. Ernie was super cool in my opinion. If I saw Ernie's truck coming down the road, I would run to meet it and he would give me a ride back to my house. And usually, Ernie would give me a small container of chocolate milk, too! That is one of my fondest memories, growing up.
Several years ago, I happened to be at the Dollar General store when the milk truck pulled up to deliver to the store. The fellow that got out of the truck was not Ernie, understandably, but was a young man about my age, maybe even younger. I asked him if he had known Ernie and he broke into a wide grin and kind of rolled his eyes, "Ernie!" he said. He told me he hadn't really known Ernie but he knew of him. I got the impression that I was not the first person to ever ask him about Ernie. Apparently Ernie impressed many a young person in my generation with his easygoing demeanor, rides on the milk truck, and of course, free chocolate milk!
Today, I called the dairy that Ernie drove for. Luckily, they are still in business. I spoke to a nice lady who personally did not remember him, but told me she would start asking the drivers as they came in from their route's if any of them remember him. It would be nice to know what ever happened to him.
Such a nice detour down memory lane.
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