Snacking: A Tradition Revisited

Since I graduated from college I have been exposed to various new things in my life such as jobs, old friends, new boyfriends, the dirty martini, and dive bars. If I had to choose one thing that's been a fixture in my life since the beginning it's been snacking. I know this seems like it's coming from way out in left field, but I recently had an episode on an airplane where my blood sugar dropped so low I had two seizures and I had to beg the flight attendants not to have an emergency landing somewhere in Indiana. But that's another story for another day. This fate full plane ride made me realize something: if there is one thing in my life that will never change it is that I must keep snacking. Let's forget gourmet for right now and talk about the bare necessities: string cheese, applesauce, crackers of any sort or brand, yogurt, raisins, and granola, only to name a few.

I work at a small elementary school where snack time is the highlight of my students' (and my) day. Every morning a cheerfull mother or nanny walks into the classroom carrying our classroom's monogrammed Lands End canvas tote filled with goodies. Usually it's string cheese, carrot sticks, or pretzels. Somedays, and these are the best days, we'll get bombarded with mini bagels and cream cheese, hummus, some sort of organic cheese snacks from Whole Foods that I would never buy for myself, or mini cups of smoothie from Jamba Juice. These days I linger for an extra minute at the snack table and set aside a small plate of treats for myself. For later, or for now; I don't care. I gotta keep my blood sugar up somehow