When I was a wee lass, I spent a great deal of time with my daddy’s two younger sisters. They were born into the family after he graduated high school, still lived at home, and being only a few years older than I, were more like my siblings than his. I have many fond memories of our younger life and times together.
One of my favorites was their creative method of storing chewing gum in order to extend its shelf life. Now, before I venture too deeply, let me explain that unlike today, chewing gum purchases were few and far between and one had to get all the goody out of each and every piece. It was something akin to rationing but much more extreme.
Each stick of gum was chewed with great enjoyment throughout the day or whatever the timeframe was, and at the end of the chewing cycle, the well-worn wad was securely adhered to the headboard of the bed. The following morning, or whenever deemed appropriate by the’ chewie’ (this could be a few days or even a week later), it was carefully extracted, plopped back into the mouth, and rehydrated. Tada! An endless supply of gum guaranteed! At any given time, there could be five to ten pieces artfully arranged and clinging to dear life on that headboard. Those were hard times, my friends! As alarming as it seems, this was a common practice among folks back in the day and as far as I recall, no one ever got sick or developed a life-threatening illness from it. There was even a song written about the experience that asked a pertinent question, “Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?”
Another ancient practice that I greatly admired involved coke (the common Southern term for all refreshing beverages) and a bag of peanuts. The elder of the two would pop the top off a bottle of coke, open the bag of peanuts, and then pour them into the liquid, only for it to fizz and carry on until I thought the concoction was going to explode from the bottle. It never did, however, and she savored every sip and bite until the bottle was empty. It was free entertainment at its best!
They often traveled near and far with us, spending the night for days, seeing the sights and just being part of the love and laughter that comes along with family. But, as it goes with all stories of life, they left their childhoods in the distance and transitioned into adolescence- with me tagging along behind them, and they kindly let me. I was still a kid, and they were teenagers. There were a few bumps due to our age differences, but we always managed to reconcile.
I vaguely recall finding the love letters of the younger stashed secretly and securely in the bottom of a dresser drawer – or so she thought. I accidentally came across them, and out of curiosity, I casually perused the terms of love and affection written in the hand of her boyfriend. That is, until she found me with the pile of letters opened, strewn around the floor and let out a banshee scream that made my hair stand up on end! I quickly dropped the letter and apologized until she forgave me and eventually invited me back into her graces.
They soon ceased to store their gum on the headboard and started dating and socializing, letting me hang out in the kitchen with them and their ‘older’ friends. They acquired their own bedrooms which were the coolest things I’d ever seen, one painted in apple green and the other hot pink, adorning the mirrors on their dressers with fuzzy peace signs and other ‘groovy’ emblems of the early seventies. It was my favorite place to stand and look back at myself. They then started wearing their hair hanging down, long and straight, and I did too.
Today, we are still the best of friends, even vacationing together at times, often visiting each other and having lunch out on the town. We are family, we stick together through thick and thin, and as they say, blood is thicker than water. We still chew our gum, but don’t (that I know of) store it on the headboard. We just buy a new pack.
