Wax Lips (Autumn)

By Vaughn Sizemore

It’s that time of year when my thoughts go back to elementary school and how tightly my grade school memories are laced to this season. When I see the brilliant leaves and the crisp blue skies, it never fails that I should recall those silly wax teeth, lips, and mustaches !! . . . . and don’t forget the orange wax Halloween harmonicas that actually played notes . . . .

These all smelled so much better than they tasted and I LOVED them! I procured mine from Hull’s market down the street, and after purchase, these ended up in a small brown paper bag I tucked in my jacket pocket to smuggle into school.

These wax playground valuables were considered contraband, but I never gave that a thought! We passed them around and laughed at each other with no more regard than we gave to licking each other’s ice cream bars or spitting gum out of our mouths to share with someone else. We drank from each other’s pop bottles, bit from each other’s candy bars, and ate each other’s unfinished sandwiches. We didn’t think anything of this utter lack of hygiene.

Forget herd immunity . . . . we must have had intergalactic immunity! I believe we could have survived rabies without medical treatment! And in my recollection, the items we “spit-shared” more than anything else were those fragrant wax teeth, lips, and mustaches.

What I wouldn’t give today, to go back one more time, just to sit on the curb on a crisp autumn afternoon with a wax mustache and a fresh pack of candy cigarettes . . . . playing some soulful tune on an orange Halloween harmonica..

“I cannot think of a better landscape in which to grow up and develop, than Marion, Ohio in the 1950s and 1960s. I will forever be grateful for the outstanding public education I received in the Marion Public School System.”

- Vaughn Sizemore

Vaughn Sizemore is a true native son of Marion, Ohio. He was born, raised, and educated in Marion. Vaughn completed his first two years of his Ohio State University degree at the Marion Campus. He is the son of Southeastern Kentucky coal mining parents who moved to the Marion area for a better life. Active in music at a young age, he embraced the vital local music and arts scene of Marion in the 1960s.

A senior executive in information technologies, Vaughn became a registered lobbyist later in his career, working in state governments across the country, and in Washington DC for a time. He has been a performing musician since the age of 15 and will write about his life experiences when inspired to do so.

Vaughn resides in Galena, Ohio with his wife Pamela, also a proud Marionite.