When I Was A Little Girl In The Forties

I was a little girl in the early forties, a long time ago. I remember it so well and it was wartime in many of those years and then the war was over and things got back to normal. We once again could get so many things that had been rationed. Rationing meant you were limited on sugar, butter, other certain foods that you could only buy small amounts depending on how many people were in your family. There were four in ours.

Sugar used in bubble gum and to us kids, not being able to get a lot of it. A cousin of Dad's had a small grocery store and we went to visit him in Alexandria, Va one Sunday and I guess we went on the bus from Baltimore to Alexandria. He lived in back of the grocery business as many did in those days. He called me back, I guess I was about ten and he gave me for Chanukah a box of 100 pieces of bubble gum. To a kid, this was like a pot of gold.

I held onto it tight as I could on the bus going home and I offered my brother who was five years older than me about ten pieces and that was it. I was a generous kid, always sharing with other kids, not this time. My brother knew that was all he would get and he treasured it.

Now days, it would mean nothing today; for our children have Ipads, computers, cell phones, and lots of electronics.I never forgot Cousin Will and his wife Cousin Dora and I never saw them until I got married and I invited them to my wedding in 1960. She asked me why did I invite them and I said I never forgot all these twenty years for the bubble gum gift. They were so pleased. They had come all the way from Alexandria where they still lived to celebrate with us. Dad and Will embraced because they had been good friends and good cousins until Will moved away.

Small things can be beautiful memories in our minds and even when we grow up, they are not small, they are large and beautiful and so meaningful. ELITA SOHMER CLAYMAN FAIRFAX STATION PATCH