By Pattie Mihalik

newsgirl@comcast.net

It’s always fun getting to know new people and listening to their stories.

Last weekend, as my husband and I were enjoying talking with a couple we just met, the couple brought up an interesting topic: Memories.

After I commented on the big swimming pools in each house we passed, our new friend said he had a big swimming pool when he was growing up.

“Our big extended family gathered each Sunday to swim in our big pool,” the husband said.

I told him that even after more than a decade of living in Florida, I thought having your own swimming pool in the backyard was extraordinary.

I mentioned when I was growing up, no one had a swimming pool in the backyard. But we did have a big, marvelous community pool.

“Well, what we had for our family gatherings was a big aboveground pool,” the gentleman clarified.

I told them I, too, had precious memories of our big extended family gathering for Sunday swims. But it wasn’t in a private or public pool.

We swam in a creek.

To be specific, we kids frolicked in the clear, cool creek that ran through the Knoebel’s Grove picnic area.

Some of my best memories of summer were that of our big family picnics at Knoebel’s Grove.

While Knoebel’s has turned into a wonderful entertainment mecca that draws visitors from all over, the park has a storied history of simple roots.

Our big family reunions at Knoebel’s Grove didn’t involve spending money. Parking was free. Reserving a covered picnic shed was free. And of course, swimming in the creek was free.

I thought it was a marvelous childhood adventure. Moss-covered stones on the bottom of the creek were slippery enough to give us the challenge of trying to walk in the creek. It didn’t matter if we fell because we had all that clear, cool water to buffer any fall.

When most people have a big picnic at the park, they cook hot dogs and burgers on the grill. We never had that kind of picnic fare.

We had Italian feasts.

One aunt brought a huge pan of her incredible breaded chicken cutlets. Another aunt brought a tray of lasagna. My grandmother always made what looked like a bathtub filled with spaghetti and meatballs.

When others walked by and commented on the tantalizing smells, they were invited to stay and eat with us. We always had more than enough food.

Of course Knoebel’s had great rides, but when we had our big family get-togethers, no one left the picnic area. We were having too much fun being with family.

Just thinking about all that ignited a flood of memories that led me to think about how much simpler life was back then.

It didn’t take much money to have memorable family adventures with our extended family. My mother had four sisters. In our big Italian family, that meant I had five mothers, because each sister looked after every child. They did more than care for us — they enjoyed us.

Every time I was with my aunts I could bask in their attention. I loved to make them laugh.

There were times when the aunts gave each child a few nickels to spend in the park. After I rode the wonderful carousel with its famous pipe organ, I headed for my favorite spot — the penny arcade.

Ahh, the wonderful things I could do there. I could put a coin in a machine and be rewarded with a glamorous photo of a movie star. Or, I could play one of the games.

I loved that penny arcade so much that one time I crawled in the window to play there before it opened. I was a tiny 7-year-old so I got away with a few misadventures.

When I think about my teen years, I recall how we enjoyed a simple life. We didn’t have malls to lure kids. Instead, we had a wonderful downtown.

For a nickel, we could buy a bag of loose chips from the five and dime. The clerk used a scoop and a scale to measure out the amazing amount of chips our nickel could buy.

Our simple teenage activity was walking through town to meet other teens doing the same thing.

Walking through town as especially special during the Easter parade.

The “parade” was just hundreds of kids walking through town while dressed in Easter finery. We often stopped to talk or to take pictures with our little Instamatic cameras.

Home life was also simple when I was growing up. I can’t remember a time when we were taken to a restaurant or treated to McDonald’s. That’s because it never happened.

Our treats involved wonderful, homemade food and a house that rang with laughter as relatives piled in to visit every Sunday.

I remember how special Sundays were. As I walked home from church, wonderful aromas drifted from homes. What a peaceful feeling it was.

That of course was way before stores felt the need to be open seven days a week and kids had to run off to Sunday athletic events.

I am so grateful to have grown up during simpler times.

Kids today may think they have so much more. They do.

But they will never have the pleasure of living in a laid-back world of simple values.

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net.