The worth of chocolate to a child is equivalent to the worth of gold to an adult. That being said, you could imagine my thrill as a 10 year old when I stumbled upon a couple gallon container filled to the brim and overflowing with chocolate chips. My mom had obviously found them on clearance at Price Club and had stocked up on them. A couple years worth of chocolate chip cookies right there. She hadn't anticipated on her kids snooping around in the walk-in pantry, so they were not too heavily guarded or hidden. I found them during a game of hide n seek, and I had been staking out in the pantry for quite some time. I guess I got a little curious... So I opened this container, found the chocolate chips, and knew right then that the universe wanted me to find those chocolate chips. Not wanting to offend the universe, and figuring nobody would notice if a handful or two were missing from the pot, I helped myself to a few healthy servings of chocolate chips. More than a few. I went crazy. Not wanting others to discover them and consequently having to share with others, I hid the chocolate chips and decided to come back later for more. Over the next week, I made frequent visits to the pantry where I locked myself in the dark, quickly shoved handfuls of chocolate chips in my mouth, dropping a few on the ground in my haste, and getting out of there before anyone could find me. I remember playing legos with Matt one time in our room, telling him I had to do something downstairs, running down there to help myself to a handful of chocolate chips, then coming back without saying anything to Matt. Or this other one time someone walked through the kitchen when I was in the pantry, and I prayed they wouldn't open the door on my. And let me tell you, that little boys prayers were answered that day.... I remember thinking to myself as I walked out of the pantry, checking to make sure the coast was clear, "why do I got to such risks to eat chocolate?" But it didn't matter. It was too late. I was addicted.
You'd be surprised how fast a big bucket of chocolate chips can get eaten by a 10 year old. I seriously ate about half that bucket in a weeks time. We're talking the equivalent of 10+ bags of chocolate chips. Man, I feel so ashamed writing this right now... This story is all too familiar. One time I ate an entire jar of marshmallow cream while hiding in the pantry (I found it after I found the chocolate chips. The chocolate made me curious as to what other goodies I might find in the pantry. I stumbled upon a jar of marshmallow cream. Yeah, that stuff comes in jars). I felt really guilty after but lacked the courage to turn myself in. So I simply put the empty bottle of marshmallow cream back into the pantry hoping the whole thing would just blow over. It didn't. My mom found it a couple days later and has refused to let the issue drop since then. My Christmas present from her last year was an empty jar of marshmallow cream in some sort of act of strange, cynical payback. Anyway, chocolate chips.
So I finally had to come to terms with my addiction and stop eating them. I decided to go into the pantry one last time for a good bye session of chocolate chip snack down, but my mom must have picked up my sent and moved the bucket somewhere else where I couldn't find them. I was so sad and relieved at the same time that I didn't have to eat that chocolate anymore. But that's when I discovered the marshmallow cream...
I don't know why I've decided to share this story, but I did mention Christmas in it, so there's my tie-in. But I will be honest in saying that I try to share now. Much more than I ever did then at least... Merry Christmas!
Great story Johnny.
ReplyDeleteThis could be completely unrelated, but I feel like I saw you come out of the pantry in Crestline, looking all sneaky like once. I don't judge you Jon. I recall a time when I was about 3 yrs old and I got my first taste of pure butter. Every minute or two I would run into the kitchen and stick my finger into the butter and take a lick. Nobody seemed to wonder what I was doing, but they were watching a movie so they were probably too into the movie to care.
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