Small Wonder

I live in a small town in New Jersy, U.S.A.. It is a "Boro" of 4 square miles, 25,000 residents, and sports enough mature trees to gain the title of "Tree City USA."

I feel fortunate to live here, and will miss many things about Glen Rock when we leave here. This little market, Kilroy's Wonder Market, is one place that I will miss. Heck, I still miss McChesney & Miller Market in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and I been gone from there for a decade now!

Kilroy's is one of those grocery stores that still has a butcher on staff, everyone knows your name (although in my case, they think it is Janet), and you can buy a nice bottle of artery cleansing red wine right along with your steaks. This is a very small market, yet carries a nice selection of items, and has surprisingly good prices on most items.

I suppose my attraction to towns with quaint markets goes back to my childhood, and my trips to the corner store with my mom. Feeding 5 hungry children, and the 3 adults that resided in our home, was part of my mother's job, and took up a large chunk of her time, and my father's salary.

Of course, the store in Binghamton, New York was a butcher shop, but my mom was their favorite customer, and everyone knew her name...Mary.

It's one of those memories that sticks with a person, and I can't help but think of those trips with my mother, each time I pull into Kilroy's.