Our lives are filled with memories and it is surprising how many memories are associated with APRONS.

I remember my Grandma Stoffel in her plain bib apron with large pockets and Grandma Carey in her little apron with a touch of lace. Mom had aprons for cooking and aprons for clothes pins and in 1954 she taught ten year old girls in 4H to make our own first aprons. My dad was a butcher and wore an apron and when he built our house he wore a carpenter's apron.

Then in 1964 I received my first significant apron when I became a "Stewardess" for United Airlines. I never dreamed then how many more I would have, for we changed designs with each new uniform, but also what a huge cache of memories those aprons would hold over 40 years.

From 1964 to 2004 all of those aprons held pockets full of cocktail napkins, can openers, money from drink sales, future pilot and stewardess wings, remnants of thousands of meals and drinks served and so much more.

This apron dates back to the 1970s and while it too survived countless insults with gravies and whipped cream, today it carries very special memories. The front shows photos of my dad pinning my wings on me in 1964 and the back shows my brother pinning my final wings on me in 2004 with countless memories in between.

Then one day in 2004, I hung up my WINGS and my APRON and walked away smiling. It was a wonderful career. I have had opportunities that I never dreamed possible when I made that first apron in 4H in 1954.

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