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Historical Summer 2017 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Please allow me to introduce myself. I’ve been your neighbor for twenty years.
If you’re unable to put my name to a face, don’t fret. I’m not out much in the neighborhood, unless beer is served.
To lift the fog and clear the confusion, I should mention my wife, Molly. People might know her. She’s all over the neighborhood, volunteering for this, that and the other. Molly feels it’s ever body’s duty to volunteer; but I argue, if people like me start volunteering, it diminishes the investment of her and the others.
After all, I’m one of the guys responsible for making the handyman an economically viable career choice.
I like to think of myself as “the man behind the woman”.
She does the heavy lifting, while I remind her to bend at the knees. Molly and I’ve raised three girls in the neighborhood. Our youngest is graduating eighth grade at St. Roch, ending a nineteen year run at the neighborhood institution. Our oldest is graduating from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
It makes one pause, and think, my God, I’m old.
But it also makes one yearn for the precious moments that vanish in a blink of the eye. And just as soon as you fill your heart with treasured memories, they come back, like locusts at the summer solstice, with bags of dirty laundry.
They eat your crops, damage your credit card and lay waste to your kitchen.
But every parent is like the commissioner of the NFL, we strive for parity so that each franchise has a chance to win the Super Bowl.
In my house, each kid gets a trophy, because I’ll be counting on them to get me across the goal line in the sunset of my years.
I don’t have to tell anyone reading this, but the SkinkerDebalivere neighborhood is a hidden gem.
In fact, it’s so hidden Siri can’t pronounce it, and pizza delivery drivers can’t find it. “I’m sorry.
I can’t find Sprinkler-Mr. Belvedere. Can I help you find something else?” Yes Siri. You can help me find my pepperoni pizza, before it dies a cold, lonely death, stuck behind a dead end cul-de-sac.
The beauty of the neighborhood lies in its central location.
The proximity to some of St. Louis’s most venerable landmarks: Forest Park, Washington University, the Zoo, Busch Stadium, and The MUNY. Although I maintain The MUNY is more enjoyable in theory, rather than execution.
It also showcases an eclectic tapestry of color, and vibrancy, woven together by threads from the past and present, plus we have a trolley.
A diverse community, stitched together with the common desire to create a wonderful neighborhood to raise a family and live a life. Or so I’ve been told. I’ll have to trust my wife on that one. It’s hard to see the sunlight from my Man Cave. Anyway, it was nice meeting all of you, and I hope we can talk again.
If you catch a glimpse of me in the neighborhood, I’ll just let you know, I prefer Budweiser, but will drink most any kind of beer. Have a great summer!
Original photograph caption
Daniel Rater.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, Summer 2017.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2017_06.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
