Posted by
Ed Lilly on Monday, April 14, 2008 10:11:03 AM
There are some things in life that you don't even think about how you know them. They just are. As a kid, and budding consumer, I knew about various types of cereals from commercials during Saturday morning cartoons, even if I didn't get to eat some of them. Quisp, Cookie Crisp, Honeycombs, Sugar Smacks, Froot Loops, Trix, Coco Puffs, Lucky Charms, etc. Standard sugary cereals for kids in the late 60s and 70s.
Special lunch treats or after school snacks like Twinkies, Ho Ho's, and Ding Dongs were always welcome (I was never much of a Sno Balls fan).
So a few months ago, during a visit with friends, one of our friends made a comment about hearing that Twinkies were no longer made. This couldn't be possible. I was sure I had seen them in the store sometime in the not-too-distant past.
But what really surprised us was the follow-up question from our 7 year old daughter, "What's a Twinkie?" How could we have failed our children so that we allowed her to reach the age of 7 without ever experiencing a Twinkie?
All's still right with the world, as I have seen and purchased Twinkies at the store. And now that my daughter's had one, she hasn't made any request that we buy more. That's ok. Perhaps on rare occasions, one of the kids will ask about getting some of those cream filled cakes that looked like bananas. And if they are still around, we'll probably have them again.
With summer now approaching, and the first trip by the ice cream truck through the neighborhood over the weekend, I realized that along with failing to expose my children to Twinkies early in life, they have no concept of what a Dilly Bar is. I thought there was a Dairy Queen not far from our house, but when I drove over to the area to see if I was right, there was no such place. Perhaps just a faulty memory on my part.
Fortunately, in getting lost last week while running an unrelated errand, I wound up crossing the Trenton Makes the World Takes bridge over the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. I turned around at the first intersection to head back to Trenton, and in making the turn, spotted a DQ down the street.
I told my lovely wife about what I had found, and pointed out that I would most likely have to go back down there to get a bag of Dilly Bars for the freezer. For the kids, of course.
She was quick to point out that I better not come home without a bag of Buster Bars as well.
As if I somehow wouldn't also get Buster Bars. Sometimes I wonder if she even knows me.