Four-Eight-Four [dot org]

The time has come for me to say goodbye to a “friend” of mine from back home. I found out tonight that The Corner Ice Cream Shop in Wake Forest, NC will be closing its doors for good this evening.

What to say …

The Corner has been around as long as I can remember. I remember getting ice cream there as a child. When I was older, I took piano lessons from the owner, and we got a coupon for free ice cream every Christmas. When I was in high school, it became a regular hang-out. Many of us in the FBC youth group spent Wednesday and Sunday evenings there before and after church, sitting on the steps, just chillin’.

Eventually I started working there … hard as it is to believe now, I was the first male employee. I got to break the “gender barrier.” I continued to work there through college, and even came back to help out in the year and a half before I got married and moved away.

There’s just nothing like seeing the smile on the face of a child when you hand him/her a cone of ice cream. It’s priceless.

And that reminds me of one of my favorite “Corner-related” memories. Back in 1996, when Hurricane Floyd (or was it Fran? I can’t remember …) came through town and really messed us up, it was immediately obvious that we weren’t getting power back for some time. There was a LOT of ice cream in the freezer that was going to melt, and lots of food that was going to spoil for lack of refrigeration.

Mrs. C had us make up sandwiches and take them and ice cream down to the EMS building for the volunteers and other folks serving that day. Then, we took the rest of the ice cream (a little bit at a time) and some cones, and passed out cones of ice cream wherever we could find folks that wanted it in town.

Once the ice cream was all gone, she gave some of the food and ice from the ice machine to me. I had another fellow from the Shaw House (the boarding house where I was living) help me take it home, and we filled the freezer and refrigerator with the food and ice. That ice remained and helped keep the food cool until just after the power came back on (a little over a week, if I remember correctly) … and the food lasted just as long.

There were lots and lots of conversations about politics, religion, theology, etc. there … involving me, Mrs. C, Ruth and Lloyd, Greg Johnson, Brian B., and countless others.

When I was seriously considering becoming Lutheran many moons ago, I met Pr. Larry Lineberger at The Corner, and we talked for a good hour or so.

When I was getting married, the staff threw a shower for Rachel and I there.

I spent many, many nights sitting at the front window with my Powerbook, at “my” table, watching the world go by, reading, writing, programming, etc.

I played a lot of chess there.

I read many, many copies of the News and Observer there, sitting on the window sill in the kitchen by the stove.

Then there was the time my brother and I spent two evenings replacing a part of the floor that was starting to fail due to rot from a leaky ice machine …
I could go on and on. Every time I think about it, I remember another fond memory.

The Corner is more than just a eatin’ joint in Wake Forest. It’s an integral part of me, and it and the folks there helped make me who I am today. Yes, this evening, at 9:00 p.m., it will cease to exist … but it will still live on in my heart and mind.

And … I know the secret to the “world’s best chicken salad”. Not to mention the pimento cheese, the egg salad, the tuna salad, and the chili and the soup.

So, to The Corner … so long, and thanks for all the memories. I’ll miss you …

I’ve uploaded a gallery of photos, all associated with The Corner. Generally, I try to post my best work, but in this case, there are a lot of bad photos. But, there are memories attached to them, so in a sense, they are good, at least to me. I’ll get around to labelling some of the more non-obvious stuff soon. Enjoy!

http://strych9design.com/gallery2/v/thecorner

p.s. If you look carefully in some of the buiding photos, you’ll see a Powerbook in the window with “Coffee Shop” painted on it. That’s “my” table.