The Joy Dare

Three things a day, choosing to see God’s blessings in the everyday and the routine of life. A dare to choose joy, to go on a scavenger hunt in search for God’s gifts. That’s what I’m doing. That’s what this is. (Let’s see if I can actually do a daily post on here again!)

May 1: 3 Gifts Tasted

The little orange tablets sit in a little container, being displayed triumphantly from the excited scramble to pick up as many as I could gather the night before; all scattered on the ground after a fun youth game. I ignored the white ones, and the green ones, and the red ones. They were probably minty, or spicy. All I cared about were the orange ones. Tic Tacs; they were one of my favorite things to eat when I was little. Every time I go to the store, I’ll stare longingly at the containers of tic tacks, wishing they weren’t so expensive. Honestly, I had started to resign myself to the fact that I may not get to eat another tic tack… ever. Not as long as I was too stingy to spend the money on something as temporary as candy. But there they are, a small handful of bright orange Tic Tacs. The orange makes me happy. I set the container in a place where I’ll see it often, to brighten up the grey, rainy day outside. Already, one has been taped into my journal to be kept forever (or until it disintegrates!) I have a problem with hanging onto things, I know. Still, as I pop one into my mouth and suck on it slow, I debate whether to save the last few and put them on display on my desk with the container of pink and purple Nerds, or to eat them all, of course, sharing some with Little Sister.

Later, Mom and I are scrambling to get into the car. It’s 4:30 and I’m eating a quickly made PB & J sandwich while we drive to a collage campus forty minutes away, to take a moped course I signed up for (yes, I bought a moped!!). The bread is perfect, full of a variety of seeds, and not dense. Dense breads kill sandwiches. The taste of PB & J’s never gets old, especially when it’s made by my parents. Little Sister and I haven’t been able to recreate the perfect flavor that our parents are able to achieve for some reason. Also, it’s always fun to eat in the car; it makes the food seem more interesting and like you’re on an adventure!

The first thing I do when I slide back into the darkened car after the four and a half hour course is grab with shaky hands for the fruit bar in my purse. It tastes heavenly. Still, my hands are quivering. Mom goes to a McDonald’s drive through; buys a chocolate shake for herself and gets a fudge sunday with fries for me. This is the second time I’ve had a fudge sunday at 10:00 p.m. at night. I can think of nothing better to have at 10:00 pm at night than a McDonald’s fudge Sunday. In the darkness of the car, driving home, the sweetness of the ice cream with fudge and the occasional lukewarm salty fry is a perfect combination. It’s amazing how delicious food tastes when you’ve become so hungry that you’re dizzy and shaky. But as I scrape out the last of the fudge from the plastic container, I wonder if this is going to affect my ability to fall asleep when I get home.