A Bowl Of Chocolate Childhood

A few years back, I was working in my old retail job when a coworker of mine named Teresa and I were hauling boxes and talking about some of our favorite childhood comfort foods.  The subject turned to breakfast cereals and I admitted that I nurtured a powerful devotion to Count Chocula for a time.  I was a chocoholic from birth it seems, and that bowl of strange little marshmallows floating in chocolate milk was just a little tonic for any bad days back then.  Not to mention the perfect compliment to Saturday morning cartoons.  I can almost feel the chocolate milk trickling down my chin.  Teresa, who was always very wise, must have noted the wistful look on my face that day and told me, "you really should pick up a box and treat yourself to some.  It'll be good for you."  

Well, I thought, "good for me?!"  Are you kidding me?  It was pure sugar; utter junk food.  I'm an adult now, for pity's sake...right?  And yet...I did think that just a few bites might be a gratifying flashback.  I put it out of my mind and forgot about it; content with my mature, sophisticated bowl of Kashi with almond milk.  Earlier this summer though, I was surprised and not a little bit delighted to discover that our niece Sierra had taken a liking to Count Chocula.  We were meeting them for a lake weekend, so I picked up a box.  Sure enough, we poured a bowl of that chocolaty goodness and even ended up eating some right out of the box.  While I was eating it, my mind flickered with images of the Banana Splits....

...Lidsville....

                                                           
                 .       .... Josie and the Pussycats...

                                                           
                           ....and Conjunction Junction.

 Maybe Sierra's memory will be of us sharing some Count Chocula.

 Yep, and the milk trickled right down the chin.  We'll just assume the trickling was a memory trigger and that I haven't started drooling.