Perhaps you may have read that on Friday that Frigidaire announced that 40 lucky bloggers were going to be the proud recipients of Frigidaire appliances. Woohoo! Free refrigerators and washers and dryers for everyone!
Um, well, ok, not everyone. Sadly, Emily and I were not cool enough to be chosen to be a part of Team Frigidaire (though some of our friends were! Congrats!)
Frigidaire, I think we speak for the entire blogosphere when we say, “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” I mean, come on. We are undeniably fabulous and also would love new appliances. You missed the boat on this one, dudes.
But as much as we would have LOVED to have been chosen for this campaign, we can’t hold a grudge against you. Because you see, Frigidaire, if it weren’t for you, Emily and I wouldn’t be here.
In 1946, after our grandfather Laton came home from fighting in the Pacific in World War II, he returned to his home in Eastern Kentucky and married his high school sweetheart, Kathleen. In 1947 they had my mother Diane, and in 1948 (*ahem*11monthslater*ahem*) they had Emily’s dad, Dan. In the hills of Eastern Kentucky where they had grown up, there was not any real opportunity for my grandparents to make a living. So in 1950, our grandfather and his young family came to Dayton, Ohio, where there were jobs, to start a new life. And, like his older brother who had come some months before, and like his younger brother would soon after, our grandfather took a job at the booming Dayton plant of a company called Frigidaire.
He and my grandmother and their two toddlers settled in the nearby little town of Germantown, Ohio, where eventually my mom met and fell in love with my dad, and Emily’s dad met and fell in love with her mom.
Our grandfather worked at Frigidaire until 1970, when he died of a heart attack at age 44 (sadly, about three weeks before Em’s parents got married. My mother was pregnant with my oldest brother at the time.) Emily and I never met him, but we sure are glad he had the courage to come to Dayton and start a new life as a young man. Because if he hadn’t? Our parents would never have met their spouses, Emily and I wouldn’t be here – and – tragedy of tragedies – you wouldn’t be reading this blog! {Shudder!}
But seriously, our grandfather’s employment at Frigidaire is nothing if not the model for the post-war American dream. He was a boy from the holler, who wasn’t even able to finish high school because he went off to fight for our country, but in no small part because he pursued opportunity, both of his children and all five of his grandchildren are college graduates.
Now perhaps you know from reading this blog that I am the sentimental sort. And you definitely know that I am the FRUGAL sort – so fortunately, when buying appliances for our home when we moved in eight years ago, sentimentality and frugality aligned perfectly, and as an ode to my grandfather, Bobby and I chose these:
Seriously!
Yesterday as Emily and I and our families gathered at our grandma’s house to celebrate Mother’s Day, we couldn’t help but notice that Grandma has retained some Frigidaire loyalty as well. Her fridge is old-school but still hanging in there!
So Frigidaire, you may not have given us shiny new flippin’ awesome appliances to blog about, but that’s all right, because in a way, you gave us something better:
Each other:
Not to mention these little boogers:
So thanks, Frigidaire. Really, the WORLD owes you thanks. Cause let’s face it, our kids are pretty awesome.
(And so are we. So call us, mmkay?)
