I love my childhood. I grew up in a household with loving parents, loving siblings and great friends; I also grew up on the lower side, of the middle class income level. As a middle class child your parents income bares little relevance to your world. You may notice that some friends / classmates have more video games, their parents drive newer cars, they vacation in more interesting places or have more toys, but for the most part the affect is minimal. We always had a house, two cars, clothes, food, presents on holidays, played sports, went to friends, camped in the summer, life was good. It is easy to look back and realize which friends came from families with money, but at the time it barely mattered. If my parents had made more money when we young, we may not have ever discovered the world of Spice Crackers.
For all intent and purposes, grades K-12, I had Spice Crackers in my lunch everyday but Thursday (Pizza Day). My family called them Spices Crackers, by the time I was in the third grades, they were more commonly referred to as Emmitt Mix. On Sunday my parents would mix oyster crackers, cheese crackers, mini pretzels, ranch, dill and oil, in a giant Tupperware bowl and everyday in my lunch, I'd get a small bag of it. The stuff is delicious and my friends loved it, still do. As an elementary school aged boy, Spice Crackers were not always my favorite: "Do I have to have them again?", "Why can't I buy hot lunch?", "Why can't you buy Doritos?". Thankfully, I learned the world of bartering at an early age; "my spice crackers for your pudding cup," and by High School I could trade a sandwich bag of Spice Crackers for an entire hot lunch.
Spice Crackers were with me at college, they been presents for friends, they were at my wedding, they've been at my BBQ's, and they are equally loved by my parent's grandchildren. Beth and I went back to Holly to see my parents on Friday; sitting there, on top of the refrigerator, in a giant Tupperware bowl was a fresh batch of Spice Crackers. Daniel and Sam love Spice Crackers, they had them as a snack upon arrival, munched on them for breakfast, a snack at lunch time and were sent home with a batch on Saturday. The only time they didn't have flakes of dill on their, fingers, mouth or clothes was getting out of the shower. When I open the lid of the Tupperware, my mouth salivates, the tongue screams "yes, eat them" and my mind races back to childhood, I love Spice Crackers. This weekend was the first time in my life, where I have been around Spice Crackers and didn't have at least a nibble.
Not enjoying Spice Crackers is one of the few negatives, of not eating solids. Of all the positives that have come from not eating solids, as of Day-18, I'd have to say that the opportunity for conversation is best part. Conversations with God, with myself, with Beth, with other family, friends, coworkers and acquaintances. Sometimes people just want to know why I'm doing this, other times the "why" leads to deeper and longer discussions.
As the conversations evolve, so do the answers. On Day-1, the honest answer to "why are you doing this?" would have been "Not exactly sure, but also because and I can do it and it will impress people." By Day-3 the answer was, "so I more often think about God". Today the answer is along the line of "to make myself a better person. To help me figure out where my spiritual relationship with God is and where it needs to go. To hopefully give myself some clarity with the direction of my life. To be a little skinner and because I can do it and it will impress people."
I love the conversations I'm getting from this. Conversation is part of the reason I blog. Blogging allows me to have this conversation with myself, to formulate thoughts and share them. I know that on an earlier post I indicated that I view conversation like a cage fight, but in regards to my 40 Days of Liquid, it's leisurely, relaxing, enjoyable, like playing catch with a baseball.
Random Notes: Started the day at ???, not sure, my parents scale is not accurate. Will finish the day around 2,100 calories.
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