Taken Back Again

Though nearly cell that my body possessed when I was ten years old has been replaced several times over there are still memories, reactions and comforts that carried on through the decades to where I am now. I was recently in a grocery store, in the cookie isle, which is pale and abysmal compared to the cookie isles of my youth. It seems that there are maybe four cookie conglomerates that hog all the shelves. There is little diversification yet plenty of boring unappetizing products.

Surrounded by cookie gloom I did find a touch stone that transported me back 45 years. It was a package of Barnum’s Animals crackers. The box looks pretty much the same, like a circus wagon with spoked wheels. It still has the flat string carrying handle. Blazed on the bottom of the front and rear panel is a reminder that the cookies on the inside are a good source of calcium, which to me is a stupid thing to list because they are never eaten for nutrition values, just comfort values. Just like when I wrote a while ago about a mayonnaise label boasting about it high content of Omega 3 fatty acids. Yeah, I’m going to double up on the mayo just to help my LDLs.

Upon opening the box there is a plastic liner that nearly looks and feels like the waxed paper liner that was used when I was a child. I guess wax paper is more expensive to use these days, though it does have more charm to me.

The vanilla cookies inside tasted exactly as I remembered them and reading the ingredients, the cookies don’t have a lot of chemical junk in them other than vitamins.

While I consumed the cookies I reflected on the illustration on the box. Each frame shows a parent and a baby animal. There is a tiger, a lion, a hippo, a giraffe, a zebra, a polar bear, a gorilla and an elephant. The illustrations are impeccable and delightful with each animal being affectionate towards one another.

This was the best cookie experience I’ve had in quite some time and I plan to relive it again, often.