And the living is easy...

So Jeremy has been making fun of me this evening for a few of my childhood memories involving, as it happens, beverages. First, I was stirring up a batch of full sugar Kool-Aid, Tropical Punch flavor. (I know Naomi and Jarum do not approve of sugared beverages, but I cannot help myself.)

As I was stirring, I said, "Do you know what this reminds me of?"

"Ralph and Amber's wedding?" he responded. (This is in reference to the fact that I often talk about the peach drink from Boyd and Sally's wedding reception--another beverage tease!)

"No," I said. "It reminds me of my childhood in general, because my mom would always buy a gi-mongo canister of Tropical Punch Kool-Aid from Costco. We'd drink it all summer."

For some reason, he thought this was really funny, and when I pressed him he said that he's often surprised by my stories of gigantic containers of drinks from Costco that he wouldn't think Mom would buy, and that we'd spend all summer drinking them. I said, "Like what?"

He couldn't remember at first, but then he snapped his fingers and said, "Dad's Root Beer."

And of course, he was right. Just this week I told him how when we were younger we'd recycle big bags of soda cans to earn money to get snacks (Laffy Taffy, in particular?) at the Colonial Heights pool. I couldn't remember where we'd get all the cans, then I remembered that we used to drink flats of Hansen's soda and Dad's Root Beer in the summertime. This, of course, is before we collectively realized that Dad's Root Beer tastes like swill (don't try to tell me it's not true).

So are you with me? Who else has fond memories of Dad's and Tropical Punch Kool-Aid? While you think about it, I'm off to drink a tall glass of the dark red elixir.