Thoughts About Get-Togethers To Chew On

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By SUSAN DROMEY HEETER, InDepthNH.org

I have a good friend who categorizes events, visits, meetings by the measurement of gum. Yes, the kind of gum you chew, chomp, blow bubbles with.  When she’s got a short meet up, that’s a Chiclet, a long chat equates to Bubblicious, a run in with a friend might be measured as a Big Red.

And I muse joyfully on gum as measurement. Yesterday, as I was walking my Bennie, my friend Melissa pulled over in her car and we chatted for so long, at least five cars were told to “go around.”  It was a Big Red conversation, we caught up and laughed and left hoping to see one another soon.

This morning, a dear childhood friend and I stayed on the phone for almost two hours – catching up, telling stories, remembering our European meetups.  That was a three pack Bubblicious call, lots of wrappers, lots of chewing, lots of ABC wads.

And it’s fun to think of those moments I want a “Chiclet” chat – when I see a parent at Market Basket, when I really do not want a long conversation, intensity, details.  A piece of Chiclet is quick, light, easy…fast food piece of gum if you will.  A “Chiclet” chat is how I want my bank transactions to go, how I want to get a coffee from a drive thru, how I want to meet and greet with your dog as I walk mine.

Chiclet conversations are the only kind I can have after six p.m.  As an educator, I talk all day long, unwrapping many pieces of Bubblicious.  I talk for a living, sharing vocabulary in Spanish, in French. El chicle, La Gomme.  So, Chiclet visits, conversations – that’s what I’m about after a day of long chats, instruction, guidance.  

And musers, how do you take your gum measurements? Bubble Yum? Doublemint? Dubble Bubble?  Do tell, musers, do tell. Even a Chiclet offers some taste and pause – albeit brief.

Susan Dromey Heeter is a writer from Dover who recently let her hair go au natural white. Writing has been her passion since her English majoring days at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.  Dromey Heeter has lived in The Netherlands, Alaska and currently basks in all things New England, including the frigid winters. An avid swimmer, Dromey Heeter’s great passion is to bring back body surfing as most children have no idea how to ride waves without ridiculous boogie boards.

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