How a Simple Word Can Take Us Back…

What words take you back in time?

Just as music can take us back to different times in our lives, so can words.

Last week, I walked into my favorite nail salon to get a mani/pedi, and sitting there waiting was an elderly woman and her middle-aged daughter. I’m guessing that the woman was mid-80s and the daughter late 50s or early 60s. As I was “soaking,” I overheard the mom say to the daughter, “When we leave here, I want to go to Macy’s and get a housecoat.”

I started to chuckle. The word housecoat immediately catapulted me back to my teen years, when I would run down the stairs in my underwear (at that time, underwear consisted of a bra, underpants, girdle, pettipants, and a slip—don’t ask!) to iron a white, oxford, button-down, collared blouse to wear under my V-neck sweater with my pleated skirt. If you’re a woman in your late 50s or early 60s, you are likely smiling and remembering this scene in your own life!

As I would thunder down the stairs, past my dad who was sitting in “his chair,” he would call out to my mom, “Lil, does this kid have a housecoat?” As I am writing this, I am laughing out loud because the scene was always the same. My mother would answer, “Yes, Bud, she has a housecoat.” It wasn’t a robe or a bathrobe—it really was a housecoat. It had a collar and buttoned down the front, just like a coat. It was old lady–like, so I never wanted to wear it.

Sitting there in the nail salon, hearing that woman use the word housecoat, brought back great memories of being a teenager. I was very fortunate to have a really great dad. My mom was good, too, but not like my dad! All of my friends and their friends wanted to come to our house because my dad was funny and fun, but still the dad.

I hope this triggers a good and funny memory of your childhood. Please write and let me know what words take you back in time.

By Patricia Grace
Aging with Grace Blog