• Tag Archives Cunningham Pharmacy

  • “Ecstasy is a glassful of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth.” Alexander Pushkin

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I was going to write a post about what a bizarre, bizarre week it has been at work but at the last-minute I got lazy. Here we go.

    When I was a kid, as I have mentioned before, my mother was very strict on sugar. Back in the 70’s, they hadn’t started diagnosing kids with ADD or ADHD (as far as I know).  I’d had some behavioral problems at school (acting out, talking back, fights, etc) and my mother was cleanly convinced that sugar was a culprit. Either that, or she was trying to counteract my poor diet (no fault of my own) by limiting sugar around the house.

    As we know now, limiting yourself from anything is a bad idea; it makes your body crave it more.

    So I became a sugar fiend. Massive massive sugar fiend. If I had money, we would walk down to Cunningham Pharmacy (where the giant Kroger is now) and buy lots and lots of candy – that I obviously wasn’t supposed to be eating.

    One of the side effects of the embargo on sugary substances was that none of the trashy, sugary, immensely bad for you cereals made their way in. Sure, occasionally they’d throw me a bone. I clearly remember getting a glow-in-the-dark dinosaur skeleton out of a box of Fruity Pebbles (my cereal-crack of choice) and hiding out in the closet with it.

    But somehow, some way, I was tricked into thinking that I liked Kix.

    Yes, Kix. (Vintage box because I couldn’t find an 80’s version)

    Kix_box

    I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t like it at some point.  I can’t imagine how that even satiated my sugar craving (it didn’t). I do recall Pele appearing on a Kix box at one point, and I can’t be sure, but at some point I decided to play soccer.  Probably peer pressure from all the jocks at my school that I was mysteriously forced to hang around. Not sure how that worked.

    My parents dutifully got me a pair of cleats and I played my first and last game of soccer.

    Turns out there’s a lot of running.

     


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  • “If an ass goes travelling he will not come home a horse.” Thomas Fuller

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare 4 Comments

    My newly teen daughter is now traversing the neighborhood with her friends.

    As the debate rages on as to if society these days is just more dangerous (or if we’re just more paranoid) or if the good ole days were more innocent and carefree (possibly), I have to come to terms with the fact that my daughter is ultimately more mobile than ever.

    Of course, my parenting style is infused with my own life experiences – such as walking around the neighborhood of my youth against my parents wishes.

    My earliest trips “out” were with my friend – we would walk down to Cunningham Pharmacy (in Houston). Past the Goony Golf, past the Library, down West Belfort, to the corner of South Post Oak. This is prior to the Kroger-plex that exists now. Just south down South Post Oak (at the time) was the AJ Foyt Dealership. Belden’s was also on that corner next to the Pharmacy. This was Belden’s first location, prior to moving to Braeswood square, where it currently resides. Can’t find pics right now, but I’m sure they exist.

    Anyway, the reason that we would walk to this particular pharmacy was because they had the BEST candy selection. Seriously. Tiny candy coffins witch candy skeletons that went together like a puzzle, Gatorgum, and my first exposure to Big League Chew.  Obviously, no kid could get enough of BLC, since it was impossible not to stick the whole bubblegum pouch into your mouth and strain your drooling jaws into submission.

    But, I was a candy addict, and Cunningham Pharmacy had the candy fix I needed. I also ended up picking up a lot of Puggles and Smurfs there as well. My Puggles were a little more masculine……..uh……..scratch that. They weren’t masculine at all. What was I thinking?

    Anyway, I also then think about the early trips that I took to Westwood Mall that were EXPRESSLY forbidden by my parents – that I did anyway.

    So, I have to consider that my daughter will do things that I won’t like, but at least she’s got a cell phone (which did not exist in my life in the late 70’s/early 80’s) and is – so far – willing to text me her location when she’s walking around.

    It will have to do, I suppose.


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