What is my favorite childhood memory of summertime?
Family picnics. Big family picnics, in our backyard, or any of our aunt and uncle’s backyards. Playing kickball with all my cousins in the middle of the street. Toasting marshmallows. Late nights catching lightning bugs. These are magical memories.
Of course, there is one specific memory that springs to mind immediately, above all others. One summer morning, the party was to be at our house, which made it extra special. This also meant we needed to go down to the store to get the refreshments. The way I remember it, I accompanied my dad to a small “mom and pop” type corner store. Going with my dad on this trip made the day even more special. And then, on top of everything else, I saw something at this corner beverage store that caught my eye and would not let go. It looked something like this:
This is the icon for White Rock beverages, which I’m not sure if it’s around any more, but at that time, when I was a kid, I guess you (by “you” I mean “my family”) only got White Rock when it was an extremely special ocassion. (Not like nowadays, when kids drink soda with every meal.) So…We were getting some White Rock beverages. But it wasn’t just the fact that we were getting soda that had me feeling so happy and excited. It was also…the beauty, and absolute magical quality of the picture on the label.
I remember being captivated by this icon, and now I’m trying to figure out what it was that made it so appealing. At first glance, I might say, “Well, look at her! She’s topless!” Your average kid in the 1960’s didn’t get to see too much in the way of nudity, (again, I say, not like nowadays…)so seeing this image must have been something out of the ordinary, something that would make an impression, something I would remember. But honestly, until I dug up this image on the internet this afternoon, I had completely forgotten that the fairy was half-naked.
What I do remember, though, is being intrigued by the beauty of the image, the appeal of the freshness of “Nature” in the rock and the water, and probably to a greater degree, the magical quality of the fact that the woman leaning over the rock had wings, was a Fairy, was “otherworldly,” supernatural.
When I think about it now, the whole idea of fairies, and otherworldliness had till that time probably been confined to my storybooks. But this was not for children. This was a product that was to be bought and consumed by big people. As such, this may have been my first experience of the colliding of the adult and childhood worlds. And that, perhaps, was what fascinated me most of all.
Am I reading too much into this? Maybe so. But it does kind of make sense. At any rate, I still like the picture, still think it’s beautfiful. And for me, the image of the White Rock fairy will always be all wrapped up in my most magical memories of what Summertime is all about.
