Memories Can Be Selfish

Ah, the wonders of the Internet! I broke a Dunkin Donuts coffee mug last week that was one of my favorites and it had to be replaced. The story about the replacement of the mug is one for another time. In searching to find a replacement for that mug I discovered so many awesome Dunkin’ Donuts mugs including the beige one with the brown logo just like I used to drink coffee in when I was learning how to drive in the early 80s.

There were some older mugs with the pinky-purple circle logos from when I was a kid too . That prompted the search for the memory lane items. It’s a very old memory that David has heard often enough because whenever we talk about donuts, and we talk about donuts quite a bit, it often brings back that fond memory of the first time I ever bought something at the store all by myself. It was a chocolate honey dipped donut from Dunkin’ Donuts on Eureka Road in Southgate, Michigan in the early 1970s; I was six or seven years old.

 

From the web, but if we'd had digital 

cameras then  I bet there would have been 

a picture of the actual donut I bought!

Times have changed, huh? Imagine any responsible parent letting a 1st/2nd grader walk all by herself up a block to the busy street, down another block in the alleyway behind the stores, across a neighborhood street and into a restaurant by herself. It was definitely safer in the early 70s. Well, I would imagine that the neighbors on our street knew I was going to the donut shop and my parents knew the owners of the stores  as customers. Heck, the guy who owned the store with the penny candy and baseball cards knew me personally as a regular customer with the neighborhood kids. So in that I actually knew neighbors and business owners it was probably safer anyway. The idea of safety never crossed my mind as a concern. My only concern was saving that 15 cents of my allowance so I could walk up to the store and buy my own donut, bring it home and have it for breakfast. I got to sit down at home and have my donut with the glass of milk Mom gave  me knowing that that day I was one step closer to being a grown-up.

I think I remember that trip to the donut store and my chocolate honey dipped donut so vividly because it was an extra special first time. I realize that I am truly blessed that I have such vivid memories so long ago. I’m trying to make a point of getting some of those very old memories that live so vividly in my mind written down. Maybe if I can read my own description with some detail about watching man walking on the moon for the first time on TV when I was almost 3 it will help me keep remembering things when I’m 83. At the very least I’ll be able to read it and be amazed at what a neat story it is.

In my search to replace that mug that broke I came across two mugs with Dunkin’ Donuts logos from the time of little Nani buys her own donut. I think it would be neat to have a Dunkin coffee mug from that time but I’m not sure which mug is the right Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant mug from the early 70s.

I was troubled by the fact that I absolutely don’t remember what a coffee cup at Dunkin’ Donuts looked like at that time. But after thinking about it I realized I didn’t drink coffee when I was six or seven years old except the “cappuccino” that Noni made for us after family dinners. I guess I don’t actually have a reason to remember what the coffee cups looked like so I really have no point of memory to tell me which mug I want.

The old Dunkin’ Donuts mugs still appeal to me as a mug collector, fan of old advertising and as a piece of my own history even if I wasn’t the one drinking coffee at the time. So dear readers, does anyone remember reading about or recognize either of these mugs as the mugs that would’ve been in a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant in 1972 or 73?

I suppose I could just get both.