It’s September! I still get that excited feeling I used to get when I was a kid and it was time to go back to school. I love this time of year.
When I look back at those school days, I always think of my Avon Willy the Worm Pin Pal. It was an apple shaped pin that had a little worm coming out of it. There was a small locket-like space that was filled with a waxy perfume. Oh, the memories of that smell, swirling my little girl finger over the perfume, then rubbing it into my wrists and behind my ears. I had a collection of Pin Pals, one for almost every holiday, but the Willy the Worm pin was most definitely for back-to-school accessorizing.
The first year I got the brooch, I had a beautiful back-to-school outfit that consisted of a dress with apples printed all over it and a white, faux pinafore apron that was sewn on. I wore it with white knee socks, new Buster Brown shoes, and my apple pin. My hair was pulled up into a small, headache-inducing ponytail tied with red, yarn like ribbon. I mean, come on, no wonder the teachers loved me.
But you know who I loved? I loved our Avon Lady. She was the gatekeeper of all manner of childhood delights. The perfumed pins, a “Soft Pink” bubble bath that came in the most delightful pink bumpy bottle, perfumed powders, miniature lipstick samples that my mom would let us use for dress-up play, and my mother’s “Skin so Soft” body oil.
The Avon Lady would show up at the door, unannounced it always seemed, in the middle of the day. She carried a case of samples and an armload of tiny catalogs that, once left at my house, I would flip through endlessly. The catalogs smelled like perfume.
My mother would brew a pot of tea or coffee, and they would sit in the kitchen and talk. Certainly, they would talk about Avon products, the saleswoman would slide sample packets across the table, like a dealer giving a junkie a “taste” but they would also talk about their lives and the neighborhood gossip. The Avon Lady had all the insider information because she was in everyone’s kitchen, all day, every day.
I wasn’t allowed to sit at the table with them, but I was usually in the vicinity, quietly playing. I remember once, the Avon Lady got down on the kitchen floor with me and taught me how to play jacks. She was like Mary Poppins with a carpet bag full of beauty supplies.
After a few years, we moved to the next city over and I think the Avon Lady moved with us. We lost her though when we moved from Ohio to California. If I remember correctly, her visits were slowing down before then anyway. The days of tradespeople, showing up at your door announced, and being welcomed, were starting to come to an end.
I can’t help but wonder now, would the world be different now if we still had unexpected guests come to our doors, join us for a coffee, play jacks with us? Would the world be less lonely? One thing is for sure, we would smell better and have softer skin.
Thanks for reading. If you know someone who grew up in the 1970s & 1980s and you think they would enjoy this post, please share it with them.
At the Check-Out Desk
I’m back from my August sabbatical. Thank you for being patient as I took some much needed time off. It was both a challenging and wonderful summer. Here are a few things that happened:
We unexpectedly lost a good family friend and the loss broke all three of us open.
My husband and I took a weekend away to Newport, Oregon and stayed at the Sylvia Beach Hotel.
We spent many hours on our new deck, resulting in me falling in love with the season of summer again.
Now, I’m ready to start writing again. This week, I’ve been working on the next few months’ editorial calendars and I can’t wait to start sharing my personal essays, book recommendations, and general reading life tips with you. I’m also going to be adding some journal prompts to the Meta Journal Workshop for my paid subscribers. Is there anything else you would like to read about? Any questions you want me to answer in a post?
P.S. Paid subscribers received an email on 9/8/24 with some behind-the-scenes information about the mood board I created for this post. If you want to receive insider information my writing process, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
My aunt was an Avon regional manager for years. I always got the neatest Christmas gifts from her.
Also, I loved this line: "like Mary Poppins with a carpet bag full of beauty supplies."
Omg I must have been super spoiled because I had EVERY ONE of these pins! Your little essay and these photos are a total walk down memory lane and it made me wish I could be an Avon Lady in the 70's. I also love the dichotomy of the "Better Than Sex" modern-day mascara to the sweet photo of you and the Avon products of yesterday. Ha! Although, the Love's Baby Soft Bottle could have been next to that mascara, me thinks.... ha!