Candy Store to Prescription Counter

By Carol Kehlmeier

As young children we would see friends at the neighborhood candy store. We would stand and look into the shiny glass case, breathe in the fragrance of cinnamon and peppermint and help each other decide how to spend our pennies. Should we buy bubble gum or licorice? We would leave the store together chatting about the new little boy down the street or the upcoming spelling test.

Becoming teenagers we would see our friends at the corner soda fountain. We would walk across the polished black and white tiled floor to a long bar with stools that spun around and around raising up and down and making you dizzy if you spun too fast. There was a sparkling mirror behind the fountain where we could see how we appeared. We would smear on a new coat of lipstick and comb our hair. We would talk to our friends about changing the way we looked with a bit of makeup or a different hairdo. What a wonderful place it was to sip Cokes, listen to the jukebox and talk about the new boy at school and the upcoming prom.

As we grew older we graduated to the coffee shop where friends gathered to talk. As we breathed in the aroma of brewing coffee and munched on donuts, we discussed our futures. Were you employed, going to college or both? And of course, the ever interesting topic of the opposite sex.

When we were old enough to visit the off-campus bar, we would have an icy beer to discuss how our lives where going. We would talk about who was engaged to be married, who was graduating, who was married and who was having babies. There might have even been a discussion about the handsome instructor in one of our classes.

Raising our children we would see friends at the PTA meeting. We would have cookies and coffee and discuss how our children were doing in school, a bargain we had found at the local department store and the terrible news that a mutual friend was getting a divorce and what would happen to the children. We might even mention a promotion our husband received.

Now, in the “golden” senior years we see friends at the prescription counter in the pharmacy. Some friends share photos of grandchildren. Some friends talk about their hospital stays and pacemakers. The conversation might turn to the price of prescriptions.

A mighty big jump from the penny candy we once purchased from the shiny glass case.

It’s strange how years go by without us really noticing we’re growing older. The body gets tired when it never use to tire and we just don’t get done in one day what we did when we were younger.

We have witnessed changes in society and family lifestyles. We have seen transformations in art, music, and literature. We have gone from the manual typewriter to the computer. Men have waked on the moon. Hopefully we have become wiser, more forgiving, and less critical.

Those of us who began our social lives at the candy store wonder about today’s young people. They seem to wander up and down the malls going from one expensive shop to another. Is this their gathering place where they can talk to old friends and make new ones?

Our generation remembers that wonderful softer side of life. We recall sitting on the front porch with a friend late at night waiting for the aurora borealis. We gazed up at the stars scattered like broken glass across the summer sky as we listened to the music of Big Bands from the radio. As the fireflies nibbled at the darkness we shared our dreams about our future with our friend.

Do young people today have time to gaze at the stars and dream?

Our lives have evolved from the candy store and hopefully we have learned many lessons and absorbed some wisdom in these many years.

Yes, many changes have occurred over these decades, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of the friends, both new and old who have been a part of our lives and made our lives richer.

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