Memories of 300 Yen for Field Trip Snacks | The Candy Store Was a Child's 'Third Place' 👦 | The Kind Lie the Old Lady Told Me 🍭✨ | Parenting | Self-Understanding | Words | Psychology | A Place to Belong | Gratitude | Essay | Comparing Versions of 'Shonen Jidai' 🎶✨🍬✨

Thank you for opening this note.
Thank you so much.

Words we hear as children often stay in our hearts.

The words spoken to us in childhood
often remain in our hearts.

Maybe what mattered most was not the truth, but the kindness behind them.

What was important
was perhaps not whether they were true,
but the kindness that lay behind them.

Thank you for always reading.

I am truly grateful
that you take the time to read my work.

To those who are new here,
thank you for finding me.

Your likes, follows,
and warm comments.

I am always encouraged by each and every one of them.

Also, being featured in a magazine
made me very happy, and I am filled with gratitude.

I hope to continue carefully delivering words that will gently remain in someone's heart.

🍫 Introduction

Today, there was a welcome field trip at my child's elementary school.



They packed their backpacks with a lunch and snacks within 330 yen and set off. (At my child's school, the limit is 330 yen.)



Watching the children calculate the cost of their snacks brought back memories of my own childhood.



This time, I will write about a slightly mysterious and warm memory that begins with '300 yen for field trip snacks'.

🍭 Field trip snacks up to 300 yen

When I was a child, field trips meant
'Snacks up to 300 yen'.



Deciding which snacks to choose within a limited budget.



For a child, that was like an adventure.

And there was a place we children always headed to.



That was a place called 'Shiraiwa Shoten'.



When you slid open the old-fashioned glass door, a faint sweet scent and the creaking floorboards would welcome you just as they always did.

🏪 A place called Shiraiwa Shoten

On days off from school, during summer vacation, and winter vacation too.



When we gathered with friends, our feet would naturally head there.



Shiraiwa Shoten was a place of relaxation for us children, a third place that was neither school nor home.



The person there was the old lady of Shiraiwa.



'Field trip tomorrow, right?'
'Make sure you think carefully about how you spend your 300 yen.'
She would say that with a smile.

'If you get two of those, you can buy gum too.'


'Chocolate will melt, so be careful.'

Even though it was just buying snacks, it was a special time back then.

🌙 A place I drifted away from before I knew it

By the time I reached junior high school, I had stopped going to Shiraiwa Shoten.



As I grew up, my life changed, and I naturally drifted away.



One day, while I was in junior high school,



'I heard Shiraiwa Shoten is closing.'

I heard that rumor.

🎟️ Did I win the lottery?!

I was surprised and headed straight to the shop.



The old lady, whom I hadn't seen in a while, said in her usual tone.

“I won the lottery, so I’m building a house and moving.”

Huh?! That’s amazing 😳



…I thought, but at the same time, I felt a little sad.

At that time, I said, “That’s great, ma’am!”
And so, I was smiling.

To the child I was back then, I think she was one of the few adults I could truly trust.

🤍 Things I realized as an adult

“I won the lottery, so I’m building a house and moving.”

I believed those words purely until I became an adult.



At some point, through various communications, I suddenly began to wonder.



Were the old lady's words actually true?

Perhaps the old lady had told me a kind lie.



So that the children wouldn't be sad.

So that they wouldn't feel lonely.

So that it would remain as a good memory.



Or perhaps it was just a joke the old lady made. (laughs)



The truth remains unknown, but now, I can feel the 'kindness' and 'consideration' that were in those words.

🍬 Between now and then

Come to think of it, nowadays.



It has become a difficult era to casually give snacks to friends due to allergy concerns.



Field trip snacks have also taken on a slightly different form than they did back then.

Even so, what remains unchanged is that for a child, choosing and buying snacks is an adventure and a time to learn about money.

And so.



The warmth of the time I spent in that place and the words we exchanged still remain unchanged in my heart now that I have become an adult.

✉️ What are your memories?

What kind of childhood memories do you have?

Are there any memories that have taken on a slightly different meaning since you became an adult?

The color of a memory can change significantly depending on the words spoken to a child.

How can I deliver 'words that leave behind kindness,' just like the old lady did back then?

I wrote about that here 👇

Thank you so much for reading this far 🌈

🎧 Today's Recommendation 🎶

"Shonen Jidai" (Boyhood)

Hikaru Utada

Original Version

Yosui Inoue

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