Mom in VA

Mom in VA

Friday, November 16, 2012

Farewell Twinkie, Goodbye Ding Dong

My heart is heavy today.  Hostess brands has closed its doors and sent home its employees.  Over  18,000 people are unexpectedly out of work right before the holidays.  Their remaining health flex plan funds are forfeited, as are their vacation days and any chance at severance.  I am sad for these people and their families.

For me, Twinkies and Ding Dongs are symbolic of a simpler time . . . when people didn't freak out about food . . . before anyone knew or cared about hydrogenated anything . . . when margarine was a health food . . . when a huge blue tub of Crisco graced a shelf in every pantry . . . when Kool-Aid was synonymous with fruit juice, and kids' upper lips were tattooed with a neon mustache all summer long . . . when children roamed their neighborhoods without sunscreen, and burned all that pure sugar "fuel".

. . . Wait . . . I just had a revelation as I was typing the last paragraph.  This is somewhat embarrassing, but I feel compelled to honesty--rather than just deleting this whole post.  The truth . . . I just realized that my mother never bought Twinkies . . . or Ding Dongs . . . or Sno-Balls . . . or those perfect cupcakes with the white curlicue.  Come to think of it, she probably called them "junk food".  When I did get them, it probably involved some subterfuge.  Memories are flooding back to me . . . sneaking across the street from Lakes Junior High School to the Circle K to purchase contraband Ho-Hos, Hubba Bubba and Lik-A-Stix, not to mention Funions and Munchos (stock for me and a few friends).  Come to think of it, Mom probably would have killed me if she knew what I was up to.

So my memory really isn't of a simpler time as much as it is about a time when I was simpler . . . about being a kid . . . and a bit of sadness because my kids will miss out on that perfectly chalk-white cream filling and those beautifully rolled chocolate layers.

I think I'll get some tonight, before they disappear from the shelves, so I can share these sweet memories with the next generation.

3 comments:

  1. Ahhh... Crisco! And you are spot on! All my Suzy-Q's were contraband sold at school. Although my Dad loved Devil Dogs so if he went shopping, he bought them. :)

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  2. LOL!! That was the stuff that was in every 'other' kids' lunches at school!

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