It Was the Simple Things

When we were kids and traveled as a family, hotels did not offer free breakfast with your overnight stay. My parents being resourceful and economical brought boxed cereals. I remember the excitement of getting to choose your own cereal, then watching my dad deftly open the package so we could use the cardboard box as a bowl. It was like a magic trick! Eating out of the packaging seemed like a radical and rebellious move to a four year old. He would pour the milk right into the open box and the cardboard never got soggy. My brothers and I then sat on our knees eating off the chest of drawers enjoying our magical cereal in a paper box bowl. It was spectacular!!!!

The down side always came on day two. The good cereal choices had been eaten on day one, so someone always ended up with corn flakes on day two…bummer! We took turns eating corn flakes, which is where I learned taking the good with the mediocre. Now let’s be honest, there is nothing wrong with corn flakes, but to a four year old who had Frosted Flakes yesterday corn flakes seem a bit boring. If we were on a longer road trip, you knew your day with corn flakes would come. You may not like it, but you lived with it. The boring was equally shared amongst the three kids and there was whining and complaining when it was your turn, but you ate it. There was always the knowledge that tomorrow you could get Cocoa Krispies and all would be right with the world. 

When I saw these boxed cereal veriety packs in the grocery store, I was instantly transformed back to four years old on a road trip with my family. I didn’t even think about eating corn flakes, I only remembered the magic of eating out of a cardboard bowl.  As adults I think we too often rob people of the reality that not everyone gets Frosted Flakes every day. Some days you get corn flakes and you should be grateful. We do not want to deal with the drama of whining, so we give in and figure out a way to make everyone ‘happy’ everyday. But that’s not reality. We set false expectations that everyday everyone will get Frosted Flakes, when in reality everyone has corn flakes in their future. The corn flakes make the Frosted Flakes that much better when it is your turn.