Just a random barn? Hardly

I was sitting in the dentist’s chair Monday morning, enjoying the view out the window, that is of course, until the hygienist stuck her hands in my mouth. The view out the window is much nicer in the summer, when they have a water feature, with water tumbling over some rocks into a little pond. Birds twitter and squirrels frolic, and again, it would be quite relaxing if someone’s hand were not in my mouth.

I always wanted to sneak a picture in the summer, but never felt like I had the chance. Monday morning, however, when the hygienist stepped out to develop my bite-wings (yikes!), I couldn’t resist. I edged out of the chair, and with that paper napkin-thing chained around my neck, I snuck my camera from my purse and snapped a shot. I love that old barn.

When the hygienist got back, I mentioned how pretty that barn was. A little later, when I asked for a certain kind of toothbrush and I heard her footfalls go down and back up a set of stairs, I started thinking. First of all, I didn’t know there was a basement in my dentist’s office. I knew that a service station had once been on that property, which made me wonder if going into the basement was like going into the “pit”.

What I really remembered about that service station, though, was that when I was in middle school, it was only a ten-minute walk there. And even though we weren’t supposed to leave the school grounds during lunch, many a noon-time we would walk there to buy candy. Now, how ironic is that? Eating that sugary candy as a kid and now I’m back in the same location getting my teeth worked on.

I don’t remember who else ran that station, but I did find on the internet that it was Andy's Eastside Standard Station from 1970 to 1975. Which was about the right time frame. Anyone else who grew up in my hometown will know it.