Today I remembered the candy shop that my grandmother would take us to. I remember everything being white and red, and the store was full of buckets to scoop candy from. There were Circus Peanuts and Caramel Cremes. Those were some of the more obscure ones, but they are worth mentioning – they remind me of my other grandparents. In the other containers were candies like salted taffy and jolly ranchers. They had an overwhelming stash of chocolate treats – even Moon Pies – and an ice cream counter. My grandma got me hooked on Tootsie Fruit Chews. I love every flavor.
As of writing this, I realize that I haven't had them since the last time I was at her old home. I'm going to have to get some now…
Much like a frozen yogurt shop, in the candy store you paid depending on the weight of the small brown paper bag you filled.
One day my childhood friend and I decided to get *~candy cigarettes~*. They came in a little white box and everything. It was fun to shake it and hear them slide around. I always got the box with the horses or cowboys on it (this should have been an early sign that cowboys would stick around in my life).
We proudly popped them in our mouths and even posted a picture to Facebook. I was quickly scolded by my mother and told to remove the post. I was somewhere between 12 and 15 years old.
I'm assuming most people haven't heard of these, so the best way to describe them is: a white chalky sugar stick. It looks nothing like a cigarette and tastes pretty bland. They were easy to binge. It's almost like there's a message in that about the dangers of real cigarettes…
Comparing it to other candy:
Depressed & compressed Pixy Stix
Dehydrated Fun Dip stick
Paper stick of a lollipop but sugar
I was upset at the time because I didn't think it was a big deal to post that photo. They obviously weren't real cigarettes, but I guess the idea of smoking is what the issue was. For the record, I HATE cigarettes and never want to smoke. Just being near a lit cig makes me hold my breath. My grandmothers were heavy smokers. One night my Papa was smoking a pipe that smelled like cherries. That time I didn’t mind.
I am nothing BUT sentimental
I named every car my parents had when I was growing up:
Ruby, Snowflake, and Penny
I have copies of their keys in one of my memory boxes. All of them were named for their color. Ruby and Snowflake were gone by the time I was a teen. I have no photos of Ruby, but there’s a framed photo of me and Grandma B standing in front of Snowflake. I’m 90% sure we listened to cassettes in that car. Penny’s windows were covered in stickers from my and my sibling’s doctor appointments for years, and she was the car I learned to drive in.
I named the cars my ex had:
Ellie/Ellie 2 and Lucy
The innards of Ellie were put in a new shell…so, Ellie 2. Lucy was an OLD truck he had for only a couple of months. She had a broken window before she was gone. A pebble launched from a push mower at light speed. They were all stick-shift, so I never drove them. I tried once and I was immediately overwhelmed.
The one we shared:
Claire
I thought the name was fitting for her – she was a glamorous shade of orange and gave off the energy of a strong female lead. Ironically, it’s also the name of the first girl he dated…whoops.
The one we shared that is now mine:
Dennis Denise (she's trans)
She is now the first car I own. In the two years I’ve had her she’s carried me into a new home and new adventures.
If your car doesn’t have a name, you should consider it. It’s fun and you might as well have a bond with the vehicle that helps you get around in this car-centric society. If you have a bike or scooter, they deserve a name too. There was a guy on my college campus who rode a huge segway, I hope it had a name. I’d name him Tucker.
Let’s make a car roster in the comments! It’ll be like a virtual garage (with free parking)
babe wake up, cars can be trans now
I love this so much <3