She painted such a bright picture in my mind of just how much joy this experience brought her.
She’d describe her excited walk to the local milk bar and then she’d stand looking up at the counter filled with colourful sugary delights and slowly…
ever
so
slowly
she’d select her favourite treats and watch as the milk bar owner packed them all tightly into a little white paper bag before handing them down to her.
And every time she told me this story, she’d stop to laugh at this point as she admitted that hardly any of those lollies would make it all the way home.
Clearly for those particular lollies it was more about the journey than the destination.
I definitely inherited every little piece of Mum’s lollie-loving DNA as I was exactly the same as a little girl. And I followed her footsteps by walking to the local milk bar more times than I can count.
It’s a shame those Very Expensive lolly stands they have at shopping centres and movie theatres these days don’t use Little White Paper Bags. Plastic bags just aren’t the same. At all.
So you can imagine how excited I was when Mum told me she once worked in a chocolate factory. I figured that had to be The Best Job In The World!!!
Remember when Lucy and Ethel worked in a chocolate factory? Soooooo funny!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPzLBSBzPI
I remember being out to dinner with friends when I was in my twenties and somehow we started talking about Willy Wonka and none of us could remember Charlie’s surname so I started going from table to table in the restaurant asking random strangers if they knew what his name was. Ah, finding the answers to questions was so much more creative and interactive prior to the invention of Google wasn't it? (Remember that night Ann? So Much Fun and I met so many lovely strangers who all had the opportunity to revisit their childhood, whether they wanted to or not... haha!)
Although when I Fell Deeply Head Over Heels in Love With Books, I started keeping some of my pocket money to spend on those too.
And I was similar to Mum as I don’t think the concept of ‘save some for later’ ever resonated with me.
Not when it came to lollies or money. I ate them as soon as they were in my possession and I spent it as soon as I received it.
Save Some For Later.
It’s such a foreign concept.
I just don’t get it and I agree with Ross.
Easter and the Royal Melbourne Show.
The Easter Bunny was a very generous visitor in our house and getting a Humpty Dumpty was the pinnacle of Easter treats. I still buy a Humpty Dumpty every year as it takes me right back to my childhood.
Mum and Dad would obviously give us the same amount of Easter Eggs or buy us the same amount of show bags but without fail, I would eat all my sweet treats within a couple of days and he would still have his a few weeks later.
Oh, the torture of seeing his little piles of Easter Eggs in the fridge after I’d eaten all of mine. Eventually I’d beg him for one of course, which would delight him as he knew he could get me to do something to earn one of his eggs!
Childhood can be rough to navigate when you have a big brother who knows all your weaknesses.
I remember Mum telling me this photo was taken on a really hot day in Perth and David’s chocolate melted by the time we got back to the car from this lookout.
Which is, of course, a pretty solid reason to always eat chocolate Right Away!!! The risk of the Melty Monster getting his hands on it is way too great.
So the challenge I set myself for the month of February was to not eat any chocolate, lollies or ice-cream for Twenty-Nine entire days (and yes, I did choose February to do this particular challenge as it’s the shortest month of the year).
I was not to eat one single mouthful.
Absolutely shocked.
As you now know, I’ve had a life-long love affair with All Things Sweet so I honestly thought this would be a really difficult thing to do for an entire month.
Twenty-nine days.
Six hundred and ninety-six hours.
Forty-one thousand, seven hundred and sixty seconds.
A really REALLY long time.
So why was it so easy?
Because it was short-term.
So my brain and body knew they would get to enjoy these treats again in the near future.
It’s a simple as that.
Had I said ‘I’m giving up sugar forever’
or
‘I’m never going to eat a bag of lollies ever again for the rest of my life’
I would have failed within the first few days.
But I went Twenty-Nine whole days and not only did I do it easily, I also didn’t really miss it.
I even had a block of Lindt chocolate in the fridge The Entire Time which went untouched.
I did glance at it adoringly on occasion though.
So have I gone back to my wicked chocolate, lolly and ice-cream eating ways in March? Oh course I have! I’m nibbling on a Humpty Dumpty as I type this (yep, the one in the photo above… thanks for your yumminess HD. You've now lovingly fulfilled your mission in life to be adored, appreciated and devoured).
The Easter Bunny has always managed to keep track of where I’m living no matter how often I move. He's very clever like that.
And the other reason why I’m eating Sweet Treats again is because I’m my mother’s daughter through and through.
You’ll never feel guilty about eating chocolate again. I promise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbI7UD8mt8I
See, what a happy story that is.
By the way, his surname was Bucket… Charlie Bucket. Just in case you were curious and haven’t gotten around to Googling it yet.
Joyful hugs,
Karen xo
‘People are like M&Ms. They come in a variety of colors, they're hard on the outside, and full of obscene yumminess on the inside.’ Michael Makai