I have been thinking about my subject for today a lot the past few days. Anyway, a few days ago Luke had a tootsie-pop. An orange one which is the best kind besides the brown ones. The wrapper had an indian shooting a star! I was so excited. I hadn't seen one in such a long time. I remember when I was very young thinking that if you were lucky enough to find one of those you could get another tootsie-pop for free. I googled that and found that it is not true. How sad! I don't know where I got that idea but I was obviously not alone in thinking that since I found a web site talking about the myth about the indianshooting a star. This made me think of my Grandpa Humphries. He had a great deal to do with why I remember my childhood so fondly. He honored the indian shooting a star "rule". Well, first I should explain that he owned the only store for miles and sold lots of candy there. When we would find a tootsie-pop with an indian on it, he would allow us to get another one for free. I think that he kinda took it a little bit farther that the myth was supposed to go though. If my memory serves me well, then we(his grandchildren) rarely had to pay for the first tootsie-pop. I remember riding my bike to his store during the summer and him giving me a little brown paper sack and telling me to go fill it up. Besides lots of candy, he would give us soda's, ice cream cones(more specifically orange cream sickles, the best ever!!!!). Now that I am a parent I am sure that my parents did not appreciate that near as much as I did. But I have also learned that Grandparents are sort of entitled to do things like this. For some reason I just can't say no to my Dad when he gives sweets to Luke and Shelby. But looking back on how I felt about it as a child, I am grateful that my children have grandparents who love them and spoil them sometimes. Luke and Shelby will in turn have the same sort of fond memories that I have. And even though I don't like them to have sweets, I really don't want to deprive them of such "sweet" memories.
3 comments:
When my family lived up in Moscow (when I was 4 or 5), there was a little store there called "The Perch" where we and out friends would go buy candies. The lady there always honored the Indian shooting a star rule. I think perhaps it was all the little Mom & Pop shops that got this going, but that major stores never did. Just because major stores didn't do it, doesn't mean it was a myth--it was just good business for the Mom & Pop stores, as it encouraged kids to keep coming in and trying for the Indian shooting a star while they bought other candies in the meantime.
Your Grandpa Humphries always spoiled me when Aimee & I would go into The Merc, too, and those are some of my favorite "sweet" memories. What an awesome man he has always been; like a real life tootsie pop, all sweetness on the inside.
I totally remember getting free tootsie pops because I had a shooting indian. What a fun memory. Thanks for sharing.
You are so darling Heidi! I love you!
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