Thoughtful Thursday – On Fruit Stripes and Summer

FRUIT STRIPE gumMy sister brought me a present yesterday – a package of FRUIT STRIPE gum. As I unwrapped it, the fruity smells assailed my nostrils and brought back memories of hot summer days in Levittown.

The flavor doesn’t last long on FRUIT STRIPE gum, but somehow that never made a difference back then. Sitting on the grass in front of someone’s house or along the curb in between rounds of stick ball, we would unwrap the gum, smile at its fanciful stripes and then enjoy that blast of fruity flavor.

And we didn’t toss the gum wrapper or use it to discard the now flavorless gum. Hell no, those gaily striped gum wrappers were bounty to be added to our ever-growing gum wrapper chains. Maybe that’s one of the reasons we prized the gum so much – those colorful wrappers sure made a statement on our gum wrapper chains! Wrigley’s gum also made great additions, especially the Juicy Fruit version.

I remember my chain was several feet long before I finally stopped adding to it. Some people never stop adding. Check out Gary Duschl, the current record holder and his chain. You can visit Gary at www.gumwrapper.com and even send him some gum wrappers so you can be part of his chain as well.

Gary Duschl of Virginia Beach, Virginia current record holder of the world's longest gum wrapper chain. Visit www.gumwrapper.com

Hope you enjoyed this fruit-flavored blast to the past and that it brought back pleasant memories of your own summer days.