My Mom smoked Kool cigarettes

in honor of Mother's Day - this week's posts are going to be all about my mom.  Stories, memories, a photo or two......

My mom smoked Kool cigarettes

And she made me buy them.  Honest truth.

I keep thinking I need to do a scrapbook album titled, “When I was a kid!”

Cuz when I was a kid…parents could send their 8/9 year old kids to the store to buy their smokes.  And they did.

We lived exactly a block from the closest cigarette hot spot.  We had the corner house…and down the street on the next corner was Pat’s Market.  I walked there daily it seemed. 

Me in my pigtails, shoelaces dangling, polyester matching outfit that my ma made for me (there’s another post there) two paper bills clenched in my grubby paw.  Smokes were 75 cents.  My dad smoked Pall Mall – one pack for dad, one pack for ma. 

Those were the days man.  I was born with pneumonia…did I ever tell you that?  Weak lungs, bad sinuses, the works.  And both parents smoked in the house – everyone did back then.  We had those ashtrays that felt like bean bags – kinda shift them around a bit.  The baby would end up playing with the ashes…..ah, memories.  

Anyway…back to the story.  So – it was often my task to walk to the corner store and buy cigarettes for the ‘rents.  We must have been educated in school at some point about the dangers of smoking because I distinctly remember going thru a period wherein I was NOT going to take that walk to the store. I’d rebel, I’d stomp my feet, I’d relay the evils I’d learned that very day in school

And 10 minutes later with my tail between my legs I’d trudge. 

Past crabby old Mr. Holmstroms.
Past the guy in the blue house who always stuck cheetos up his nose

Past Zube’s – where I often detoured yelling up the steps, “HEY ZUBE…WANNA COME STORE WITH ME???”  Zube’s lived on the second floor and yelling was very much required
Past Ina’s – who was forever scowling

Over the bit of crumbled sidewalk that was forever scraping my multi-layered scabbed knees
Past the bar – 1 of 9 on our street – we bragged about that
and to the store, tender still in hand.

They knew me at the store – when they saw that $1.50 in my hand – they knew I was on a smoke run, not a penny candy run – and they’d turn around and grab the regulars, and smack them on the counter.  I still remember that sound, I recognize it immediately when I’m at the store now behind someone buying smokes.  It has a certain *thwack* to it.   

It took me a few months, but eventually I had a bit of a deal going on with the ladies at the market. Fifty cent pieces were pretty common at that time.  I remember when I worked at the family hardware; there was always one or two in that far left cubby.  So the way my mom and dad sweetened the deal was if I were to get a 50 cent piece for change…I could keep it. In hindsight, I figure this was their guilt money, and it didn’t take me long at all to work this out with the clerks at the market.  They always had a coin waiting special, just for me, so my underage run was nearly always profitable.  I remember when my brother Dennis was old enough to begin toddling runs to the corner and my small income was in jeapordy I had to begin volunteering services so as to beat him to the coin.  “Mom, you out of cigarettes yet?  I can run store for you if you want”

I’d return home with that little brown bag and two packs of smokes and mom would ask, “where’s the change” and I’d show her that big ol shiny 50 cent piece and grin…hehe, look ma, I got lucky again!

My mom, she doesn’t smoke anymore, last I heard.  And she quit on her own, didn’t need no book.  She’ll probably sneak a social now and then if you’re game, but for the most part..she’s quit.  And that’s Kool.  Love you, mom!

Comments

[Mom]

love you too dear - even tho I couldn't find any honor in the story. I remember the first time I seriously quit - in Northville - I quit a week before that smoke-out day so if one of you kids came home from school with THE LECTURE I wouldn't have to feel guilty. That quit actually lasted for 12 years. Thanks for not posting a picture of me smoking ;)

[Tonja Trump]

Oh Torm...I swear we came from the same house!!! Thanks for that great story...it reminded me of my own trudge to the local drug store for my mom and her pack of Doral's..and a note!

[Magpie9759]

Phillip Morris, unfiltered, here. But I didn't buy them for my dad, and he was the only one who smoked. I can, however, totally identify with the bean bag ashtrays, the corner market (I got Tootsie Pops for running up there for needed dinner items every once in awhile), the neighbors you can still remember by personality, and especially the scabby knees.

Congratulations to your mom for quitting--it's not easy to cure yourself of a lifelong habit, especially one you were raised to think was okay, the mature adult thing to do, etc.

[Magpie9759]

P.S.: Did you happen to have any of those Boy Scout project ash trays at your house? The ones where a seashell was turned upside-down and anchored in Plaster of Paris, then the plaster base was decorated with beads and such?

[Kathryn]

Just when you think you know someone...hmm. Ü j/k
My dad used to buy smokes when he was a kid from vending machines.

[Rhonda]

Torm....LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your stories! Wow, this brought back memories. Both my folks smoked. We lived in the country, so it was a drive to the little gas station in order to feed the habit, but, hey, gas was only 26 cents a gallon (yes, I'm older than you!). They send my sister and me inside to purchase the cigs. And you're right, no one ever batted an eye about 5 & 6 year-olds buying 'em.

[tania]

i'm so jealous. i must have repressed all my childhood memories----i can't remember a darn thing. you seem to remember everything so vividly. teach me how.

oh...psssssst. you've got one Kool mom too!

[Amanda Heinonen]

That's awesome! It's crazy how times have changed in such a short time!

And I have to agree with one of your other commenters, you have a really good memory. I have my Mother's 20 second one. We always argue about things in the past...I remember scrubbing the kitchen floor on our hands and knees, the young kids are allowed to use a swiffer. Mom says she always scrubbed the floor, not us kids. I know I am so right!

[suetreiber]

Yeah, you are very good with the details. Me, not so much!
We did have those bean bag ashtrays though!

[kelz]

that was fabulous.

[Kelley Popp]

this made me chuckle! I remember doing this for my rents as well. But for the life of me I can't remember the name of the store I used to trudge too. I do remember the one time that me and the kids my Mom baby sat put those little popper things into my Mom's smokes she smoked those Saratoga-super long smokes back then. We got quite the chuckle watching he lite up and see her smoke explode... LOL. Thanks for taking me back today Sharyn.

[Rachel Thomae]

OMG, my mom smoked Kool cigarettes too. Our store was called "The Kwik Shoppe." Memories, memories!