I was sitting at my desk in the home office when Lisa arrived home from work yesterday. Since getting her promotion back in June, her time of arrival varies. That's fine. It gives me a little more time to work on blogging stuff and get dinner ready. When she arrived home from work, I made my way to the kitchen to greet her and give the kids their second round of afternoon snacks. On my way to the kitchen table to sit down, Lisa pulled out a white paper bag from her insulated lunch cooler. I stopped dead in my tracks. Inhaled. Froze.
Was it? Could it be? Was this a joke?
There was a familiar logo on the bag. The Goldenrod. I haven't seen this familiar white paper bag since 2012 when Lisa and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary at York Beach.
Lisa held up the bag.
"Look what I have?"
I couldn't speak.
Lisa pulled out a box. It wasn't just any box. It was a one pound box of Goldenrod Kisses.
She opened the box and held it out.
"Here. Take some. It's one of our favorite flavors...peanut butter."
My hand shook. Was this really happening?
Goldenrod. Kisses.
In order to understand my response to the Goldenrod Kisses bag and box, I'll have to back up a bit. Okay, so maybe more than a bit. Probably about 40 years ago. That's right around the time when I was introduced to York Beach, Maine where The Goldenrod is located.
My great aunt and uncle had a small cottage on York Beach. I vaguely remember it. I remember the wind chimes on the porch. Walks on the beach with my father and being terrified of the long strands of seaweed. And, The Goldenrod.
Back then, my 4 or 5-year-old brain I didn't refer it as The Goldenrod. I knew it as the taffy store with the big taffy pulling machine in the front window. My brother and I would press our faces to the glass window and salivate over the mount o' taffy that was being pulled. It was the same taffy that would be pulled, cut, wrapped, and sold.
We'd eventually make our way into The Goldenrod. We were allowed to roam the store to check out the other sweet confections, however, the only thing we ever left with was a couple of one-pound boxes of taffy. One box would be peppermint only. The other box was always a mix of peanut butter taffy and molasses taffy.
To this day, those are the only flavors I've eaten. I'm sure the other flavors are great, but...
Since then, Goldenrod Kisses is the only salt water taffy I will eat. I've tried others. Many others. But, nothing compares.
In 2011, when I moved back home, Lisa picked me up at the Manchester, NH airport. From there, we went to York Beach. Before heading back, we stopped at The Goldenrod.
In 2012, when Lisa and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary, we stayed at a hotel, on the beach, in York, Maine. After dinner, we walked around town and visited The Goldenrod for our favorite salt water taffy.
Sadly, we haven't been able to make another trip to York Beach because it's too far away. Our life has changed. Our family has gotten bigger.
Although we have no regrets whatsoever about the decisions we've made and our growing family, we do miss The Goldenrod Kisses. And it never fails, every summer I see at least a dozen posts on my Facebook wall about people's trips to The Goldenrod.
All of the above explains my reaction to Lisa pulling the famous white paper bag with The Goldenrod logo out of her lunch tote and the familiar box.
I don't think I've ever unwrapped a piece of their taffy as quick as I did yesterday.
With my mouth full of taffy, I asked Lisa how she managed to get a one pound box of Goldenrod Kisses.
"Someone from work mentioned they were going to York. We had a conversation. Today, they handed me the bag."
Thank you so much to the wonderful couple who thought of us while at The Goldenrod. You have NO idea how much this means to me. To us.
I'm currently in a peanut butter salt water taffy coma.
It's quite blissful.
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