"Grandma, can I look in your purse?" A small packet of Sen Sen carries a lot of weight!

When I was a little girl and my Grandma worked as a dorm mother at a nursing college in Kansas before moving to Ohio, I spent as much time as I could with her. We'd spend days together and overnights which I always hoped (and they usually would) extend into more than one night!
Grandma liked her car and she liked to "go". We spent weekends happily going places together in her shiny red Galaxy 500. We went to thrift shops, (which were different back then) garage sales, community band concerts, the park with bags of bread to feed the ducks then to the swings, a favorite restaurant, to visit her friends, Clown Town (privately owned small amusement park) and to take in almost any free event and other various fun stuff!

After our 3rd stop or so I settled into a comfortable routine and riding together in the front seat of her car I often asked, "Grandma, can I look in your purse?" Maybe it's a girl thing, but there was something fascinating about my Grandma's purse. I never tired of looking at the stuff she had in there; her powder and rouge compacts, lipstick, change purse and the house key chain with the real rabbit's foot. I looked and wondered hoping someday I'd be a fine lady like Grandma.

It was a treat if I'd find a piece of butterscotch candy or Wrigley's
Spearmint or Juicy Fruit gum, but often I'd only find her small packet
of Sen Sen. Sometimes out of an appetite for a "yummy", I'd ask Grandma if I could have a Sen Sen. Mildly lured by the shiny red packet and the small size of the black squarish "seeds" I tried to acquire a taste, but more often than not, I'd have to spit it out on a Kleenex. They simply tasted "nasty"! Each time I tried one, in my mind it was like a test to see if I was growing up, much the same as acquiring a taste for my Grandma's coffee. If tastes gauge growing up I suppose I've grown some because I now like coffee with cream, just the way Grandma drank hers, but I still have not acquired the taste for Sen Sens!

Today at Mom's after Christmas dinner and gift exchange we played "White Elephant Bingo".
One of the Bingo gifts Christine won was a bag of assorted candies
and among the candy was a packet of Sen Sen. At home after I opened the packet and popped a small black Sen Sen seed into my mouth (then spit it out on a Kleenex),
I was transported back in my memory to sitting beside my Grandma in her Red Galaxy 500 looking in her purse. She was nice to let me look. I had a respect for her purse as if it were a grown-up lady thing I hoped to understand one day.

Now in my purse I carry gum in "blister packs" and usually have individually wrapped cough drops. My granddaughters are too young to rummage through my purse, but one day maybe I'll carry on the tradition. I've already decided that Sen Sen will not be part of the contents! They taste awful no matter how often I try to acquire a taste!
But these little black "perfumy" tasting breath squares pack a lot of good memories in a small package!
It's Christmas.
I'm feeling sentimental. I'd love to be able to sit as a child beside my Grandma and ask, "Grandma, can I look in your purse?"
I'd find the Sen Sen among the treasures there!

"Sen-Sen was developed in the late 1800's by T.B. Dunn and Co., perfume dealers in Rochester, New York. According to Dunn's history, a plant supervisor by the name of Kerschner developed a formula for an effective and refreshing breath perfume. In keeping with its perfumery roots, it was on the market list for many years as a cosmetic. The ingredients of Sen-Sen are imported from Bulgaria, France, Turkey, Greece, Italy and some almost inaccessible regions of Asia. The product is still made on some of the original equipment that manufactured it in the late 1800's."