Thursday, August 22, 2013

I'm guilty of statutory grape

As I get older, there are a handful of things that instantly take me back to an earlier moment in my life that I remember vividly.  One of those things is grape soda.

I went to camp for a week each summer when I was a kid.  It was Camp Moses Merrill in northeast Nebraska.  The camp had a little snack shack where every afternoon we were allowed to buy snacks and sodas.  My parents gave me some spending money that was kept as a 'bank' to be used at the snack shack.

I remember buying an orange or grape soda every afternoon.  Camp was full of interesting experiences that I have not really had except when I went each summer.  When I graduated from high school, I was a counselor there for a couple of summers.  I still bought grape sodas at the snack shack as I moved into young adulthood.

I haven't really thought about those camp experiences until recently when I walked past the vending machines at the apartment complex I live at.  Crush sodas are available in that machine... orange, strawberry, and grape.  I had an impulse and purchased a grape soda from that machine a few weeks ago.

I was so excited about how delicious it was that I bought a six pack of grape Crush at Walmart Neighborhood Market when Anthony and I went grocery shopping on Sunday.  I have been drinking one every night this week.  Every one of them has been wonderful.

Life can often be complicated.  But, I do my best to keep myself happy by finding simple things that bring me joy whether it's taking pictures, walking the dog, or drinking a grape soda.

Oh grape soda, how I love thee.

Grape me.