Monday, June 16, 2008

Caress. It goes a long, long, way...

As a matter of fact, it goes ALL the way back to Elk Park Trail!! There are only a small handful of you all that will get that reference, but that's okay...that's who this post is for anyway really.

So, I was strollin' through the aisles at the Dollar General the other day (because that's how I roll these days...don't you laugh until you give it a try, it's pretty addictive)...ANYWAY, back on task. So I was strollin' through the D.G. the other day and I happened upon this:




Now I KNOW they still sale this in the stores, but usually I just go and grab our usual ole soap and don't give the others a second glance. Well, for some reason the Caress was a callin' my name that day and so I picked it up and decided to give it a whirl. Well, let me just tell you the next morning when I opened it up and took a shower with it for the first time in 20 some-odd years and breathed in the smell of Caress, something just overcame me that I just couldn't quite explain. I started giggling and remembering everything about Elk Park Trail there was to remember.

I remembered:

Pink and Green, Dancing to Duran Duran and Rob Base in Missy's room,



Crab Legs, Nana and Papa, The Divers, "Big Ole Chunk of a Big", MTV (on the sliding cable box changer), Marcia's flowers, Bridge, Music jammin' on the little pink jam box, the boys...oh the boys...Ronnie, Robert, Lane, Greg, Mike, and Brian (Good God, do I remember the boys),

I remembered Eddie Money and "Take Me Home Tonight" and I remembered Skateboards and Short Stop and Kickball and the ballpark and Pokie Joe's and going up to the convenient store so said boys could "ride the rail" and talking on the phone and slumber parties

and Riding the Bus to Missy's and spending the weekend at Nana and Papa's and the Mercedes and the innocence of kissing and ALL of the "notes" we wrote to each other and then read aloud to each other over and over, I remembered Missy's bedroom window and when Robert knocked on it and scared us CRAZY, I remembered Cocoa and Tigger and going dancing at Heaven, I remembered matching shirts and necklaces and hair with Missy because I loved her so much, I remembered riding the 36 or so miles to her house with our moms until we could drive those very same miles ourselves...in our Honda Hatchback and what was it??? Corolla Hatchback? I remembered drifting apart in high school, but not enough that we lost each other, I remembered hanging onto her with what I could and I remembered us coming back to each other with full force during Missy's college days. I remembered our loves and our losses and our weddings and our children and I remembered so much more.


I am the luckiest. I have Missy in my life as my best friend still and I'm never letting go, NEVER!!

ALL of that from a tiny bar of soap. So....Caress, before you dress and see how far it will take you. I'd be interested to know.

5 comments:

Janelle said...

As soon as I saw that box, I could "smell" the soap. Good times.

mbc said...

OMG, I have to read that one again. I was scared when you asked for those jr. high pics--and for a good reason! (Nana was where my love of Caress came from--I'm sure it's in her bathroom as we speak.)

I love this.

I love you.

Anonymous said...

This was toooo funny!! I love the pic's.

~ June

Anonymous said...

I love this! It brought back memories of my own 80's life! How fun. You are so creative. Love you!

Painted Groove Girl said...

Tina,
I'm reading this late, but you're killing me. Buckaroo is gone, I haven't showered with Caress is at least 20 years (long story) and I'm right there rolling with you, me and my twins, to their favorite, Dollar Tree.