Flying with My Sister

We were little girls. Sisters flying down to Florida to visit our grandparents during winter recess. Winter recess was a week off from school in February, in between the December holiday break and Spring Break. I've never heard of anywhere else that has Winter Recess. We lived in New York, in a predominantly Jewish town. I don't recall getting two whole weeks off around Christmastime. I think it was a week for each of the three breaks. Anyway, I digress...

My sister and I were going to fly alone for the first time. I don't recall how old we were exactly, but I was definitely still in elementary school, which meant my sister couldn't have been too much older than that. We're only two and half years apart. Only one parent was allowed to walk us on the plane, so we said goodbye to Dad in the terminal and Mom walked us on the plane and to our seats. We weren't scared. Mom may have been, but we weren't. She kissed us goodbye and handed us each a small, white paper bag. We looked at each other and then at her, and we all smiled. We recognized those bags as treat bags from Lazar's, the local chocolate and candy shop in downtown Great Neck, where we lived.

Those treat bags are the earliest memory I have of how much my mom loves Valentine's Day. It's also how I remembered it was Winter Recess and not Spring Break. Winter Recess was in February. February meant Valentine's Day, and Valentine's Day meant heart-shaped treats from my mom. My mom loves hearts. Jen and I each unrolled the tops of the bags and peeked inside. No surprises, it was usually the same thing. But knowing didn't make it any less delightful. My sister had a bag of red foil-wrapped chocolate hearts, and my bag was filled with heart-shaped red hots.  I always envied my sister's treat a little. I was highly allergic to chocolate as a child, and I couldn't even have the handmade chocolate from Lazar's. Nonetheless, I loved my red hots, and to this day I still love cinnamon candy.

We tucked our treat bags away, and mom reminded us to behave and give lots of hugs and kisses to our grandparents, and she walked off the plane. The flight attendants doted on us "unaccompanied minors." We were brought sodas and those old funny earphones that looked like stethoscopes. There would be a movie after take-off, and they would bring us kids' meals. Eastern Airlines was the carrier at the time. They were the official airline of Walt Disney World. When they brought us our meals, they were in large flat boxes, almost like shirt boxes. The front cover was a photograph of Mickey and friends at Disney World. Inside there was the food of choice. Hard to believe, but chicken fingers weren't really a thing yet. I'm pretty sure I always had a hot dog. None of the real food mattered because the treasure inside was the bright red, cherry lollipop in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head.

Flying was quite an event back then. Not like today's tiny narrow seats, one ounce pack of pretzels and a drink you rush to swig down before the flight attendant comes back for the trash. Even the two and a half hour flight from NY to Florida had meals and movies back then. And there were people who were nervous, same as those who get seasick on a cruise. But the atmosphere wasn't so somber and guarded. People weren't white knuckled and terrified to get on planes. I have to admit, I'm still not afraid. I might be more aware and in tuned. But I'm not afraid. I'm looking forward to heading out tomorrow on vacation. I'll be joining my sister at a stop over and we'll finish our flight together. I should've picked up some red hots, or tried to find some foil covered chocolate hearts. I'm not allergic anymore.

This is an actual photo from the Lazar's website. They're still in business!