Cereal

OK....so I went to the store feeling uninhibited. Not naked and be loud uninhibited, but "buy whatever you want Heather" uninhibited. To complete any ugly mental images, there is no way I could lack enough inhibition to be naked in public...loud most assuredly...but not naked.

For some reason, when I am feeling uninhibited in a store, the first place I go is the cereal aisle. I figure now that my mom has been gone for 5 years, I can now freely say what a poor food parent she was. That is totally not true but I figured I would sound like an embittered child because we were forced to eat sugarless cereal and powered milk!

Yes powered milk. I can imagine that NO ONE reading this has consumed powered milk with some regularity. Let me revisit the process of recreating milk from powder. Get yourself a 2 gallon container and get yourself 2 cups (no more no less) of powder. Now to offer a bit of complaint here...due to being a Navy wife on an extremely limited income, my mom didn't get "top of the line" milk powder...instead it was generic powered milk. As a note, Carnation (top of the LINE example of powered milk) did and still does carry powdered milk.

I offer up a tedious explanation regarding the quality of said powder because my mother's constant explanation to generic items was almost a mantra "You can't tell the difference". Right. The story of the generic peanut butter with the arabic writing on the label from the discount story is for another day.

The first few glasses of the putcher of milk were watered down and the last one (depending on who made it) was extra thick. I qualify on the "who made it" because my brother had a different perspective regarding the necessity for careful preparation of powdered milk. Here is the way Heather took her time to create the milk....cold water...a little on the bottom first then adding a partial amount of the powder and more water....stir VIGOROUSLY....then add more water and the remaining powder. Done. Rick's way: dump in powder....put in water...put in fridge...stirring only to guarantee anyone watching has seen would say he had stirred it. Certainly a more disingenuous way to create a beverage for the whole family to consume. I will say with decided certainty that the times where you would pour the milk and receive a resounding plop of unreconstituted powder. Yah...I will never forget that sound and the icky feeling I would get.

Unsugared cereal. Cheerios and Rice Krispies...that is what we would get. If we were lucky we would get Sugar Smacks...I think. I can't recall what my behaviors were when I would eat cereal, but I can recall my brother showing me the syrup of sugar a a result from him sugaring his sugarless cereal. It was almost a victorious smile on his face when he would show me. God love him.

When my sister was older, we got Golden Grahams and Honey Nut Cherrios (hunny nunny as Shawn couldn't pronounce it properly as a toddler). I felt gypped. SHE got Hunny Nunny Cherrios and we got generic rice crisp cereal.

I went away to college for a year when I was 20. Being away from home was tough for me. I am a momma's girl. I recall walking into the cafeteria one of the first days feeling very much pathetic and without hope for being away. Then I saw it. I swear it twinkled in the morning light. It stood about 6 feet tall and had a small almost inconsequential sign....on that sign read "Captain Crunch" in somewhat careless hand. At that moment, I felt it was going to be all right...all ok. ENDLESS BOWLS OF CAPTAIN CRUNCH....could you IMAGINE. With REAL milk? Dear God was there a LIMIT on how many years one could attend and bask in these luxuries? It was all good.

Walking through the store as a free uninhibited adult, I looked at the Family Size of Captain Crunch WITH crunch berries. OH YAH BAYBEEE....I put one in my cart. I was satiated. I am currently without any Captain Crunch with or without berries...so I am a bit on a edge. I have yet to feel the necessity to replace my box yet. Part of the delay is guilt from childhood that I don't need it. Coupled with the fact that Michael is eating healthy as of late and the guilt has increased as I get organic fiber cereal so my grasp to Captain Crunch has stuttered.

As I move on, I must pose a question to all....What is a Crunch Berry? When I was a kid there was a red crunchberry. Now there are 4 colors...wow. I am overstimulated by the array. The same level of magnificitude has also occurred with Lucky Charms....oh gosh...there are so many! Kids today are SOOO lucky. If there is any doubt just walk down the cereal aisle.

Be great to you
H