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Bubble Gum Mumps ....

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As a young girl, somewhere around seven years old I had the mumps. I had never heard of them until then. 


In the very back, rear facing seat of my mom and dad‘s station wagon, we were headed to my Mimi‘s house in Camden, Alabama. 


We stopped at a small gas station on Highway 41 on the way. 


Dad would always let us come in and get a five cent cookie or a handful of penny candy for the road.


This particular day me and all my sisters got a little brown bag of penny bubblegum. It came in three flavors… bubblegum, sour apple and grape.


I remember chewing grape bubble gum and adding another piece until my mouth could not possibly put any more in it!


It was about a 45 minute drive to Mimi’s house and by the time we got there my jaws were hurting. 


Later in the day I began running a fever and my face on both sides were swollen. I looked like a chipmunk with overstuffed jaws. 


As it turned out, I had the mumps. Then another sister had it… and another until all of us except my brother was sick with them. 


Not realizing that mumps were a childhood illness, I thought it was because I had chewed all that bubblegum! 


Until I was well into my teenage years I associated grape Super Bubble, bubble gum with the mumps and I refused to chew it.


What a way to break a habit!


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