Pop

I keep seeing Soda Stream Machines for sale in different stores. The machine basically adds carbonation to tap water. You then add flavored syrup to the carbonated water to make soda pop. My kids think they are the coolest thing ever and want me to buy one. I have no intentions of buying one. I don't think it helped my case any by telling them that Grandma bought one back when I was in high school in the 1980's. It's true. Little did we know way back then that Mother was a trendsetter. I don't know who manufactured the soda maker we had, but I know that Mother bought it from the Schwan man. It was out of character for her to buy such an extravagance.

Growing up between the towns of Caledonia and Spring Grove, we drank our share of Spring Grove Pop. I think I was an adult before I realized how cool it was that a tiny little town like Spring Grove had a pop bottling operation. While I'm sure we tried several of the flavors over the years, the one I remember the most is strawberry. We used to buy it by the case. And when I say "by the case" I mean a wooden case with glass bottles that you returned to the store when you were done drinking the pop. I loved Strawberry Spring Grove Pop as a kid. In fact, just thinking about it today, I can still taste it. Except, it is not a pleasant memory now. Whenever we had the stomach flu as kids, Mother would lay us down on the couch in the TV room. She'd give us a pillow and blanket. Next to us she would place a dining room chair. On the chair she would put an ice cream pail....our barf bucket. As soon as we started to feel better, she would give us some strawberry pop. Maybe she figured the sugar would give us our energy back. I never questioned it back then. I just was happy to be feeling good enough to drink the pop. But to this day, I associate Spring Grove Strawberry Pop with having the stomach flu. (Luckily, there are still several other yummy flavors to choose from. My current favorite is Lemon Sour.)

I don't actually remember drinking much pop growing up. I do remember in 1976 when 7UP had a cool idea. In honor of the Bicentennial, they sold special cans of 7UP. Each can had a picture of one state on it. On the back of each can was a "piece of a puzzle". When you had all 50 states, you stacked the cans into a pyramid in a certain order and when you looked at the back, all the "pieces of the puzzle" formed a picture of Uncle Sam. Mike and I were determined to collect all 50 state cans. I remember going to Albert's Grocery in Caledonia. (By the way, all these years later, I can still clearly picture where different items were in that store.) Mike and I would go to where the 7UP six packs were and carefully try to search for the states we still needed. Doing this without accidentally pulling cans out of the plastic holding the 6-pack together was no easy feat. I recall thinking that we were behaving very badly by searching through the pop like this. Of course, it didn't stop us. I would have been 10 in 1976...the same age Lauren and Evan are now. I could totally see them doing the same thing. The funny thing is, I can't remember if we ever collected all 50 states or not. I wonder if Mike

remembers. If we did, I sure hope he kept them.

Searching through the 7UP cans in Albert's was nothing compared to what Mike and I used to do with pop cans back at the farm. I'm sure it was all Mike's idea, since he was 4 years older than me. Mike would take a can of pop outside and shake it for several minutes. Then, he'd pull the tab on top of the can. As the pop shot several feet in the air, I would snap pictures. (At least I was smart enough to be the one behind the camera documenting the bad influence that Mike was on me.) I also happen to remember one time when Mike opened a shaken can of pop in the kitchen. I recall hurrying to clean that mess up before Mother discovered what we had done. I don't remember ever getting caught doing this. I can only imagine what Mother would have said. It probably would have been something about all the kids in Africa who would be so thankful to have a can of pop to drink that they would never dream of doing such a thing.

I have looked for the pictures I took. I know what photo album I had them in. They appear to be missing. While I think I may have taken them out to scan into the computer a while back, I have to wonder if maybe Mike removed them many years ago to get rid of the evidence.

I remember hearing several years ago that they changed the pressure of the carbonation in pop cans  for safety reasons. Maybe Mike and I weren't the only ones to shake the cans and then open them. I suppose some kid pointed the can toward their face when he opened it and lost an eye or something. I don't know if it's true that they changed the pressure or not. I bet I could convince Mike to shake up a can and try it. All I ask is that he wait until I am there with my camera!

When I think about how out of character it was for Mother to splurge on the soda making machine from Schwan's, a thought comes to mind. Perhaps she knew all along about how much pop Mike and I wasted with our antics. With the soda making machine, you added the carbonation into an open bottle of water. There was no pop top to pull to open the can. There were no kids shooting pop sky high just to take pictures of it.  Maybe she figured buying the machine was saving money in the long run. Perhaps she was beating us at our own game without us ever knowing.

Yet another thing for me to ask her when I meet up with her in Heaven some day.