Do you have anything that triggers memories from when you were a kid? Something that you don’t typically see anymore, but transports you back to some time and space when and if you do happen to encounter it?
In December I took a road trip to Portland, with a colleague, to attend a conference. Along the way we stopped in a store and as we were passing by the checkout I saw a box sitting on a shelf in that aisle that beckons you to pick up things you don’t need/want to add to your basket… the things that catch your eye while you wait bored, for the people in the line ahead of you to step up to the checkout and pay…..and in the box were two rolls of Butter Rum Life Savers.
I almost squealed out loud!
I certainly snatched both rolls up and looked everywhere for more. I would have bought and entire box if I’d found them.
I didn’t even know they made them anymore, I haven’t seen them in decades. Not that I’m really a big candy person, but Butter Rum Life Savers…they hold a special place in my heart.
Why?
Because when I was little, I would almost always receive a Lifesaver Christmas Book in my Christmas stocking. Twelve rolls of Lifesavers….a roll of Five Flavour, Pep’o’Mint, Wint’o’green, Spear’o’Mint, Cryst’o’Mint, Wild Cherry, Lemon, Butterscotch, a couple of others that I can’t remember….and Butter Rum…..the absolute best ones in the book.
Ironically, before we went down to Portland I’d been in Canadian Tire and we were passing by the Christmas section and my eyes scanned over the Christmas candy section. I saw the Lifesaver books and opened one….every product gets smaller with time…there are only six rolls now, not twelve….not a Butter Rum roll in the bunch.
I’d realized then that I hadn’t had a Butter Rum Lifesaver in decades. I buy peppermint or wintergreen ones from time to time, and I can’t even recall seeing the flavoured ones for some time, not any of the flavours. Lifesavers seem to have had their time, yet the Christmas book still shows up on shelves year after year…just…different.
So stumbling on two rolls of Butter Rum Lifesavers seemed like, well, a Christmas miracle of sorts. Over the next few days I looked everywhere I went for more…never found another roll. But those two rolls one went into Kirk’s stocking.
I opened the kitchen drawer this evening and saw one of the rolls…and it was a happy moment 😊
Some days it’s about the photo, some days it’s about some random thought, some days it’s about a memory.