Root beer and M&M’s
The kids and I went for a little road trip and when we stopped to get some gas the chorus of, “I’m thirsty! I want a snack!” was so deafening. It was so loud I’m pretty sure I heard a cicada in the woods nearby holler, “would yall keep it down?” Frugal as I am, I let myself go and give in to their begging. A few minutes later we were walking out with next month’s electric bill in a plastic bag with a sugar crash waiting in the very near future.
Normally I would have gotten a Dr. Pepper and some whoppers, but when I saw the bottle of Barq’s Root Beer staring back at me, I couldn’t resist. I’d skipped breakfast, so in search of some protein I opted for a bag of peanut M&M’s and then we were back on the road.
As I washed down that first hand full of candy a few miles down the road, I was hit with the most incredible sense of nostalgia.
It’s funny the things we remember.
When we were kids, Daddy worked security at Opryland and during the summers we’d go to work with him in the afternoon until Mama got off work. I think about those days and how they shaped me frequently, but it’d been a long time since I had a Barq’s root beer.
As soon as I took my first swig, it took me back to getting a snack out of the vending machine while we waited on Mama to pick us up. I was right back in the security office out behind the Grand Ole Opry house. It was mid-afternoon and we’d spent a few hours riding the Wabash Cannonball and listening to live music in the shade. We’d probably had a funnel cake or some Dippin’ Dots, which have yet to fulfill their prophecy of being the ice cream of the future.
The park’s long gone, and I’m sure that office is too, but as long as there’s good country music, Barq’s root beer, and peanut M&M’s, the memory of those days will remain.
