Variety is the Spice of Life!

I always have a steady supply of jelly belly’s in my purse and some type of chocolate nearby, but every now and then I’ll mix things up, like today, I am enjoying a nice big box of Mike and Ikes. But these aren’t just any Mike and Ikes, these are called “Red Rageous!” Imagine a box full of chewy fruit flavored candies in several different shades of red: Raspberry, Cherry, Fruit Punch, Strawberry and Watermelon! Totally delicious and hitting all the major red fruit categories!  The Mike and Ike brand does a good job by offering many different varieties of their chewy candies, which made me think of that old saying “Variety is the Spice of Life!”

I believe variety is not only the spice of life but is also essential to a happy one. I’m not talking about changing partners or anything like that I am referring to trying new things, changing careers, not always wearing the same color clothes or the same shade of eye shadow.  I grew up studying dance which some how morphed into becoming a paralegal which later led me to law school to a career I never dreamed of having, but one that I loved. I look forward to the future and wonder what career is next? Similarly with hobbies – I used to play the piano, but dream of playing the harp. I know that at some point in the future I will play the harp, in fact I dreamed about it last night. I love studying languages and while I am not fluent in any of them I have studied Russian, French, Japanese and Hawaiian. I don’t care if I am fluent or not, I simply enjoy stretching my brain.

 

I guess what I am saying is that while there are always constants in your life, like your spouse, your children, your family, don’t settle and do the same thing your whole life long. Try new things, experiment, reinvent yourself often, do things you have always dreamed of doing, but never thought possible.  And of course, try new flavors of candies, I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Summer and Salt Water Taffy

Salt water taffy forever reminds me of that passage from being a kid to crossing the divide to becoming a full-blown teenager! The summer between 8^th and 9^th grade my aunt and uncle invited me to Cape Cod for the month of August to help take care of their two daughters. First, the simple fact I was asked to accompany them over my older, and much more sophisticated sister sent shivers of delight up my spine. Then in anticipation of spending the month on the beach my mom bought me a two-piece bathing suit – yes, a bikini!!  I’ll never forget it, it was a lovely shade of pale yellow with little flowers. The double bonus, it made my sister incredibly jealous – as being the oldest she was the one who was supposed to experience everything first, including wearing a two-piece! 

Cape Cod was simply beyond words – the house was just a few yards from the beach. We would spend hours on the beach swimming out to the sand bar, body surfing, just hanging out. It was fabulous!  I’ll never forget walking down the beach in my cute two-piece bathing suit and being whistled by two boys who even ran up to talk to me. I was confused – why were these boys (clearly older than me) talking to me? This was my first foray into dealing with the opposite sex, which I failed miserably at then, and admittedly throughout high school and beyond! (I was always thick-headed when it came to flirting). Still it felt strangely exciting and forbidden at the same time.

But what I remember most from this vacation was my first taste of salt water taffy!  I’ll never will forget it, we were walking in town and stopped into a country store. My uncle bought me a bag of salt water taffy. Here were these bit-sized pieces of multi-color chewy taffy wrapped in pieces of white paper. Each piece was better than the next – banana, strawberry, vanilla, licorice, every imaginable flavor. I was totally hooked, in love and craved more. From then on, every opportunity I would stop back at that quaint little store and buy another bag of salt water taffy. Funny, thinking back the excitement of traveling first class on an airplane, wearing a two-piece bathing suit, being chatted up by boys are all diminished by the memory of tearing into a piece of chewy taffy!

To this day, each summer I look forward with great anticipation to the arrival of those bit-sized, brightly colored tasty pieces of salt water taffy!  And with each bit I am taken back to that summer after 8^th grade feeling ever so grown up in my sweet yellow two-piece bathing suit (like any good Catholic girl, I still have a hard time calling it a bikini – good girls simply didn’t wear bikinis!).

Summer!!!!

I come from a family of 7 kids – 4 boys and 3 girls. Growing up my brothers were very rambunctious, you know the type – the smelly, noisy messy, teasing kind. It is no wonder I ended up an introvert. Summer would come and the gaggle of us Kennedy kids would be home together with nothing but time to get in each other’s way.  I loved finding a place to hide out, somewhere to escape to, just to have time to myself. One of my favorite escapes was riding my bike to the little grocery store not far from our house. Back in the 60’s when I was growing up there were still family run grocery stores – the kind where the store was downstairs and the family lived upstairs. There was one such grocery store near us on Williston Road – one that was easy to get to without having to ride on busy streets, which was strictly forbidden. I don’t remember its name, to me it was always simply the candy store. Right next to the counter were rows and rows of candy, with the lowest row chock full of every imaginable penny candy!

I would save my pennies or even snitch one or two from my mom’s purse when she wasn’t looking (sorry Mom!) Once I had a few pennies I would jump on my bike (the kind that was one speed with foot brakes) and head out full of anticipation of the adventure and the treats waiting for me. My route never varied, I would head up Tonkawood Road to Robinwood Drive, hang a left and cruise through the back streets until I hit Williston Road. I swear 40 years later I could easily take that same route without hesitation, I knew it so well.  Off I would ride through the intertwining streets to arrive at the grocery store. They had this fantastic selection of penny candy. I would dream about what I wanted to choose – of all the choices, tootsie rolls, taffy, waxed lips, pixie sticks – I would invariably choose candy lipstick. For those of you who don’t know, candy lipstick was shaped just like a tube of lipstick, surrounded in gold foil. Naturally, it was bright red and had this fabulous cherry taste.  I would lick the “tube” and put on lipstick before biting into the soft, creaming deliciousness.  Oh, how I wished they still made that penny candy today, there are imitations of course, but nothing matches that red, sweet cherry lipstick in its gold wrapper!

As I grew older I was allowed to ride my bike on busier streets, so instead of going to the little candy store I would ride my bike up Minnetonka Blvd. through the back roads to the Rexall Drug store. Here you could buy nickel Hersey bars, or a 5 cent box of red hots (yes, I do love my red hots!). But best of all Rexall Drug had a fountain counter in their store where for a dime you could sit on the stools and drink strawberry or vanilla phosphates – total heaven!  These were also solo bike rides, just me and my bike. To this day I still seek out time to spend alone. Of course today, my bike has been replaced with my sweet ride, but undoubtedly it involves making a special trip to find something sweet!