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!