Sweet Memories
A LITTLE SIGH OF THANKS TO MARS.
I had a really nice surprise the other day. While searching the candy shelf at Walgreens, I found something called ‘Starburst Jelly Beans’.
I have grown accustomed to the modern interpretation of candy; sugar and food color, everything tasting the same, with only the difference in shape to remind some of us of the things gone by. To my surprise, these jellybeans had flavor. The red ones tasted like cherry, the green ones tasted like lime, the purple ones tasted like grape. It was a welcome surprise and appreciated, but it was the yellow ones that have made me a fan for life.
When I popped four of those shiny little beauties in my mouth, I was instantly transported to the warm nights in Santa Paula, ca, with the fragrance of lemon blossoms so strong in the air and so intoxicating, that it made driving difficult. There was magic in those nights, with the warm wind blowing through the car windows and the blackness of the sky filled with stars and a sense of something great and greater.
Yes, you’re right. I was filled with wonder.
There were also the thoughts of a girl (who would later become my wife) even though she had made it plain that she didn’t like anything about me. It is strange how you can love someone who doesn’t love you, but looking back in my memories, I can see why it seemed so logical and possible to me then.
Memories of the small city of Ventura came to mind. There is a courthouse standing like the Acropolis on the hillside, and when standing on the steps of that building you can see the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean spread out below. The downtown area was so unchanged from the 1920’s and 30’s that movie crews would often be filming in the neighborhoods, using it for period films. The city was such a delight to walk about that I lived in the downtown district for years just to feel it twenty-four hours a day.
The smell of lemon blossoms and the smell of the Ocean, mixing together into sort of lemony brine filled with unbelievable power and delicacy. How many people get to spend their late teens and early twenties in a place of magic?
Thankfully it is only the sweetness and magic that remain in my memories, not the bitterness and turmoil. Selective memory is such a great thing. There is none of the self-recrimination at the neglect you have shown others and none of the realization that no one you have ever loved has loved you in return. I think those things are purposely held back till you are at the end as sort of an encouragement to let it go and get off the planet.
None of those feelings were in the jellybeans. The feelings in them have the sweetness of a young man who could not begin to comprehend eternity. Everything in them was good and hopeful, filled with a place and time that no longer exist.
So I say thank you to the Mars candy company. Thank you for the trip through time and thank you for the moments of wonder.
Jim Bronaugh
I had a really nice surprise the other day. While searching the candy shelf at Walgreens, I found something called ‘Starburst Jelly Beans’.
I have grown accustomed to the modern interpretation of candy; sugar and food color, everything tasting the same, with only the difference in shape to remind some of us of the things gone by. To my surprise, these jellybeans had flavor. The red ones tasted like cherry, the green ones tasted like lime, the purple ones tasted like grape. It was a welcome surprise and appreciated, but it was the yellow ones that have made me a fan for life.
When I popped four of those shiny little beauties in my mouth, I was instantly transported to the warm nights in Santa Paula, ca, with the fragrance of lemon blossoms so strong in the air and so intoxicating, that it made driving difficult. There was magic in those nights, with the warm wind blowing through the car windows and the blackness of the sky filled with stars and a sense of something great and greater.
Yes, you’re right. I was filled with wonder.
There were also the thoughts of a girl (who would later become my wife) even though she had made it plain that she didn’t like anything about me. It is strange how you can love someone who doesn’t love you, but looking back in my memories, I can see why it seemed so logical and possible to me then.
Memories of the small city of Ventura came to mind. There is a courthouse standing like the Acropolis on the hillside, and when standing on the steps of that building you can see the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean spread out below. The downtown area was so unchanged from the 1920’s and 30’s that movie crews would often be filming in the neighborhoods, using it for period films. The city was such a delight to walk about that I lived in the downtown district for years just to feel it twenty-four hours a day.
The smell of lemon blossoms and the smell of the Ocean, mixing together into sort of lemony brine filled with unbelievable power and delicacy. How many people get to spend their late teens and early twenties in a place of magic?
Thankfully it is only the sweetness and magic that remain in my memories, not the bitterness and turmoil. Selective memory is such a great thing. There is none of the self-recrimination at the neglect you have shown others and none of the realization that no one you have ever loved has loved you in return. I think those things are purposely held back till you are at the end as sort of an encouragement to let it go and get off the planet.
None of those feelings were in the jellybeans. The feelings in them have the sweetness of a young man who could not begin to comprehend eternity. Everything in them was good and hopeful, filled with a place and time that no longer exist.
So I say thank you to the Mars candy company. Thank you for the trip through time and thank you for the moments of wonder.
Jim Bronaugh
posted by Jim Bronaugh | 2:39 AM
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