December, unsweetened, No. 4

12/4: One sweet relationship

This blog chronicles the author's attempt to endure the month of December, 2019, without eating sugary foods or drinks.

Yesterday, in my blog,  I referred to "my relationship with sugar," but it wasn't until later that I began to question what that meant.

When did sugar and I first meet? Was it love at first bite? And why, after all these years together, did I think we should separate for a month?

I surely wasn't introduced to sugar the way many children have been over the past few decades—with the "cake smash" on one's first birthday. A fully frosted cake is placed in front of them and they're urged to interact with it in any way they choose.

According to the folks at Shooting Star Photography in Woodstown, N.J.,  who are increasingly hired to shoot such messy events, the practice may have originated among Mexican families.

(https://shootingstarsouthjersey.com/2015/10/05/history-of-the-cake-smash/)

In any event, the cake smash has become a first date with sugar that's the equivalent of "going all the way," using a bib as protection.

My earliest clear recollection of sugar was when I was about 5. My mother used to have regular appointments at a chiropractor's office, about a half-hour drive from our home. To keep me from being fussy about bringing me along, she'd stop at a corner store along the way and buy me a package of Goldenberg's Peanut Chews.

Later, when I played Little League ball, team wins were rewarded with sodas at the concession stand, compliments of the coach. These days, of course, it's de rigueur for victorious young athletes to be treated to ice cream, which is also a pretty sweet deal.

Then, of course, there were those annual October evenings when I learned I could ring a doorbell, say "trick or treat" and score a free candy bar. And that was back in the days before "snack sizes" had been invented.

Raisinettes at the theater. Fribbles at Friendly's. And, oh, those steamy summer rendezvous at the Good Humor ice cream truck. Yup, sugar and I had some pretty sweet times together in my youth.

So, how did it all go wrong?