05/29/2026
The Juicy Fruit Wrapper
Today would have been my mom’s 84th birthday. ✨🎂
Earlier, while I was out, I saw a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. Just seeing it made me smile because my mom always had Juicy Fruit in her purse.
Not only did it put a smile on my face, it put a smile in my heart.❤️
It felt like a little wink from my moma, letting me know she was with me in that moment. ✨
So I bought it and brought it home.
Tonight, around 7:30, I decided I was finally going to have a piece.
As I opened the pack, I was expecting to see that familiar silver wrapper. You remember the one. My moma would break a piece in half and hand you one part while she kept the other.
Sometimes that saved piece would end up with a little purse lint stuck to the end of it. 🤣
And somehow that just makes me laugh now.
Those little things become treasured memories.
When I opened the pack, though, I discovered they had changed the wrapper. Instead of the silver paper, it was white with red Wrigley’s writing all over it.
For a second, I was taken back. It wasn’t the wrapper I expected, but I still opened it.
Then I put half a piece in my mouth, and later the other half, closed my eyes, and let myself go back. ✨
Back to those moments.
Back to my mom.
And it reminded me of something important.
The packaging may change, but the memory doesn’t.
Life is a little like that.
Things look different than they used to. People leave. Time moves on. Wrappers change.
But love doesn’t. ❤️
The memories we make today become the treasures we’ll hold tomorrow. ✨
We don’t realize it in the moment, but one day we’ll need those memories.
One day, a pack of gum, a song on the radio, or a familiar scent will bring someone we love right back into the room for a few precious moments.
And what a gift that truly is and never to be taken for granted. ✨
Happy 84th Birthday, Moma. ✨💕
Thanks for the smile.
And thanks for the wink. 😉
