Sweet Freedom

One of the things I like about being a grown-up is that I can buy chocolate whenever I want. And I can buy however much I want. I can eat it in the morning, right before supper, or at bedtime. I can eat as much as I want. Being a grown-up can be a lot of fun.

The way I’m talking, you might think that I just flew the coop yesterday. Not so. I’ve been married for twelve years (tomorrow), and I have four kids (that’s supposed to imply that I’m a responsible adult, on some level). After college, I lived in Nicaragua for three years, far, far away (I’m not just referring to distance here) from the coop. I’m 32 years old, for crying out loud, but I still get excited over buying chocolate.

This morning I took Sweetsie and The Baby Nickel to Walmart (the rest of the family is in upstate New York) because I needed to get a few important items like red lipstick, birdies for our badminton set (couldn’t find them), and unlined paper. At the end of my list, I wrote “chocolate”.

Therefore, my last stop was the chocolate aisle. While the kids ritched around in their seats (The Baby Nickel on the front seat, strapped in, and Sweetsie perched on a big box of disposable diapers), I pondered the many choices. I had trouble deciding what would be best, so I played it safe and bought a variety. (And this is after I had already been to the baking aisle where I had bought two bars of Baker’s semi-sweet baking chocolate, two bars of Nestle 53% Dark Chocolate, two bars of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate, and a bag of Kraft Premium Caramel Bits—I had used up all my semi-sweet chocolate bars when I made those Chocolate Chunk Cookies.)

This is what I picked out:

*Reese’s Select Clusters (peanuts, pecans, peanut butter, and caramel in milk chocolate)
*Dove Dark Chocolate pieces, individually wrapped
*Dove Desserts—Tiramisu, Dark Chocolate, individually wrapped
*A bar of Lindt Excellence, Chili, Dark Chocolate
*A bar of Lindt Creation, 70%, Orange

I came home and stashed the bars and bags into my chocolate cupboard, up above the microwave. I already had a variety of baking chocolates (two kinds of chips, several kinds of cocoa, white baking chocolate, unsweetened baking chocolate), so now my cupboard is looking rather full. Even to me.

The good news is that it should take me awhile to work my way through that stash. I don’t gorge on chocolate, especially not the dark kind. One piece here and there is plenty.

After all, I am a responsible adult who knows how to handle her freedom. I mean, her chocolate.

(Gummy bears, however, are a different story…)