For the life of me, I can't recall when my pop drinking got so out of hand. As a young teenager growing up around our family's restaurant in the small Kansas town of Haven, all of my family had ready access to the pop dispensers. Shoot, that's where I learned how to make the drink called a "suicide. I remember pop being a part of our noon time and supper time meals, both at home and in the cafe. It just was natural to drink it and it came became such a normal part of life growing up that it carried right into my years of adulthood. A large diet Coke at Wendy's, a medium diet Dr. Pepper at McDonald's and of course my very favourite drink of choice~a medium diet vanilla Pepsi at Bogey's, well they became my very best "friends". When I was tired, lonely, bored, depressed and even when I was totally "sans" excuses, they were the ones I could always rely on to provide a "pick me up". Giving them up, even at this point in time, seems almost "sacrilegious" but because I still have a little sense left in me, I must.
Today, many of my friends upon learning of my decision, gave me their very best advice as to how I could succeed in kicking the "pop habit" and beginning anew the "water habit". They all know of my sincere disdain for the taste of water and they offered their best thoughts on how I could become "new best friends" with good old H2O. Their suggestions ranging from drinking it ice cold and keeping it by my side always to "jazzing" it up a bit with flavoured crystals, to just plain DRINKING IT were much appreciated by me. It's hard to imagine the difficulty in giving up the choice of having pop, especially when it has been such an engrained part of one's life for such a long time.
There is a big smile on my face right now as I remember my late mom, Lois Scott, and her Diet Coke habit that she carried for many years right up to the day before she passed away. My siblings will attest to this being the truth~if you came to Mom's house and looked in the refrigerator, there would always be an open diet Coke can, half-drank waiting for her to finish it off. Mom was one who, when she woke up the middle of the night, would make the trek to the bathroom and stop off at the refrigerator for a swig of her favourite drink. It didn't matter the time~2:00 in the morning was no different than 2:00 in the afternoon. She always said that it calmed her stomach and indeed, the original advertisement for Coca Cola when it was introduced in 1866 touted all of the many health benefits one could expect while enjoying a glass of Coke. When she passed away at the age of 87 in the local nursing home here in Hutch, her small apartment sized refrigerator still contained several cans of her beloved diet Coke. Mom had to give up a lot in life during her later years. I'm sure glad that diet Coke wasn't one of them :)
Well, day is done and night has fallen and miracle of all miracles, I have drank more water today in a 12 hour span of time than I have in weeks. Of course, never mind the fact that I'll be up plenty of times tonight visiting the bathroom (ok, I know that is a TMI moment, but it's the truth). And hey, on that bathroom thought....good thing for me that the bathroom is right across from my classroom at Lincoln. I paid a visit there more times than ever today (yeah, yeah, yeah I know another TMI moment). In fact, it was rather sweet at one point in time today. As I was taking care of my business this afternoon in the 1-2 grade pod's bathroom, I heard the sweetest little voice coming from the stall next door. "Mrs. Miller, is that YOU?" a tiny little 1st grade girl asked. I recognized the voice right away and proceeded to be "grilled" on what I was doing in there. The whole "60 second" moment in time gave further credence to the notion that little kids truly believe that their teachers NEVER have to go to the restroom. Truth of the matter is, we hardly ever take time to do it. For me, that's about to come to an end....you can only slosh your way through so many class periods before it's time to "surrender". A small price to pay, I suppose, for trying to become healthier.
Giving up pop and drinking water in its place would probably never have made the Miller "bucket list" and in all honesty, I cannot say for sure that I will be able to make it forever. But I'm willing to try and see how far I can make it this time around. I miss pop already and my disdain of water is very apparent, yet this I know~Peggy Miller's death certificate will never read, "She died because she gave up drinking pop". I take some solace in that :)
Have a good evening family and friends! Stay well and warm and hopefully one step ahead of all the diseases and sicknesses floating around here as of late. I "raise my bottle of Dasani water" to you all in heart felt and sincere wishes for good health for all of us. Good night all!
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