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David Spates How can I forget something
I had completely forgotten how tasty salsa
is, and now I'm wondering what else I used to like but haven't
enjoyed for a while simply because I've forgotten about it. There was a time in my life when chips and
salsa was a staple snack in the Spates house. There would always
be chips and salsa on hand - and on floor and on couch and on
cats and always on a new white shirt, but that's another issue
completely. The point is that I used to eat chips and
salsa a lot, but then, maybe two years ago, I stopped. It wasn't
a conscious decision, really. I just stopped buying chips and
salsa at the grocery store. Sure, I'd eat chips and salsa when
I'd go out for Mexican food, but when you're hungry and a waiter
puts munchies on your table while you wait for your fajitas,
that doesn't really count as a definitive food choice in my book.
He could place a loaf of Wonder Bread and a bottle of horseradish
and I'd probably nibble on that until my entree appeared. Restaurants and friendly waiters who always
ask you a question when your mouth is full aside, I'm curious
as to why chips and salsa left my life for such a long time.
As I said, it wasn't a conscious decision. I didn't miss chips
and salsa when they were away, but now that I have rediscovered
their lure I'm wondering what else I really like that I don't
enjoy anymore because of my own forgetfulness. It's a troubling thought. I suppose it's a function of age. We plod
through our lives enjoying the positives and enduring the negatives,
but often we don't take the time to take note of what we enjoyed.
Too often, all that we can recall are the things we don't like.
I had forgotten that I enjoyed chips and salsa, but I've never
forgotten how much I dislike celery. The truth is that I haven't
chomped down on a stalk of celery in probably 25 years. My impression
of celery was formed when I was all of maybe 5 years old. So
how can I say that I don't like celery today when I haven't given
it a chance in a quarter-century? Does that sound like rational, adult decision-making
to you? Don't answer that. It was a rhetorical question. Of course
it's not rational. I know that. I don't subscribe to most of the notions I
had when I was 5 years old, so why do I continue to be anti-celery?
I've outgrown sandboxes, Santa Claus and Kool-Aid but yet I continue
to turn my now-30-year-old nose up at celery. It's baffling. Nevertheless, there's probably little chance
that I'll be giving celery a chance to find its way into my good
graces anytime soon. So why do I remember with great fervor the
things I don't like, yet something as wonderfully tasty and satisfying
as a bag of lightly salted corn chips and a spicy jar of salsa
slip through my recollection? What else have I forgotten about? Of course,
if I could answer that I wouldn't have to ask it in the first
place. If I knew what I've forgotten then I haven't forgotten
it. There are plenty of things I used to like
but don't anymore - and with good reason. I used to listen to
Twisted Sister. Enough said? Perhaps I need to start making a list of the
things I like. I'd hate to think that I'll forget about chips
and salsa again, but if it could happen once surely it could
happen again. With my handy list, I could look it over once a
year or so and remind myself what's good in the world. Knowing myself as I do, however, I'd probably forget where I kept the list. Maybe I should tie it to a stalk of celery. |