Reasons I Love My Mother

Reason #338:

I love the memory of our family’s trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was part of our whirlwind tour across the east coast so that I could look at colleges. We went the summer of 2000, but after 9/11 happened, my mom started  (I think unconsciously) telling people we went in 2001, mere months before the towers fell.

Anyway, Hershey, Pennsylvania was delightful. Their street lamps were giant Hershey’s Kisses, so it was hard not to be on board from the get-go. The Hershey Factory itself was a little reminscent of Willy Wonka’s factory in that there was a chocolate river, and also, as you were experiencing it, you thought, “I hope Tim Burton doesn’t try and redo this.”

Anyway, after our tour, my mom and dad bought literally hundreds of dollars worth of chocolate to send to family members as souvenirs. I did not understand what was happening as I watched them say things like, “Yes, we’d like to ship this 10-pound over-sized Hershey Bar to our brother and sister-in-law in Minnesota.” Makes no sense, right? But I think it’s sweet to look back on; my mom was very into souvenirs and thinking of people and just loved giving gifts. The logic of “lets buy and ship chocolate because we went to a place that makes chocolate” is a little flimsy, but the sentiment is rock solid.

Also, it’s hard to tell in the above picture, but that is indeed a bathing suit that I am wearing at The Hershey Factory.