Cereal Killer

This morning I had an appointment with my doctor. I had to arrive there fasting for certain blood tests. When I came back home, I was really hungry for breakfast. I wanted something quick, easy and filling. I chose to have cereal. Actually I use two or three different cereals that I mix together.

Just handling the cereal box brought back a memory of childhood. When I was little I often chose the cereal my mom bought because of the box. Some boxes promised a toy inside or some puzzle to solve. Reading the cereal box was a perfect activity while eating breakfast. I remember that each schoolday morning, my mother had a routine. She would wake me and I would go off to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I had showers or a bath every evening, so we would be ready to roll in the morning. Next my breakfast would be waiting on the kitchen table. A small glass of orange juice, a bowl, spoon and a choice of 3 cereals. All of the cereals were sweetened, and the sweeter the better! This was the routine while school was in session. I started mixing different cereals together probably when I was 5 or so. I would also eat them dry.

I hated milk, I still do. The thought of drinking milk makes me nauseous. I remember the moment I could no longer tolerate drinking it. I believe I was 3 years old. Sometimes though the cereal was just too dry. In that rare occurrence I would add a tiny bit of milk just to moisten the cereal. I guess that’s why I have always liked hot cereal, because it wasn’t dry and you could incorporate milk into it so it didn’t show. Eating dry cereal and orange juice as my breakfast meal was something I had to unlearn as an adult! The high sugar, carbohydrate breakfast had me hungry about 2 hours later. I mean hungry! The more sugar I consumed, the hungrier I became!

When I was 8 years old, we moved from that old wonderful neighborhood that I loved. On the morning of the move. I was sent right around the corner to a little place that was called a luncheonette. It was a combination candy store, restaurant. Everyone knew me there and I loved it. My mother sent me to have breakfast because everything in the house was packed to go and mom had cleaned the kitchen. The refrigerator was empty. I also wanted to say goodbye! Everyone knew we were moving and the owner who knew me from birth sat with me while I ate. I was sad, I didn’t want a big breakfast so I just took an individual cereal box. He asked me if I wanted milk on the cereal. I said no thanks. He was insistent that I have milk with it. I finally said, just a drop, I don’t like milk. He said he understood and filled the cereal with milk. I couldn’t eat it. I tried to drain the milk off the cereal in the spoon, but it just didn’t work. I said goodbye, gave him a hug and left. I guess somewhere it created an indelible memory in my brain. With the good memories of that place, (tall stick pretzels, little golden books and comic books, and greasy hamburgers and fries and the very best huckleberry ice cream), I associate it with ruined cereal.

Today, thankfully I use almond milk.

I obviously passed on my revulsion of milk to my children. I couldn’t help it. I would try to stifle the gags feeding them a bottle. Formula didn’t affect me that way. There is just something about the texture of milk that I can’t stand. After all my favorite thing in the world is ice cream followed by cheese. It’s just milk!

Anyway, who was the first person to decide you could drink the milk from another mammal? You wouldn’t look at a lactating dog and say, YUM! Trying to explain such a revulsion is impossible. I learned to say, I’m allergic! That way people left me alone. I convinced everyone that they too were allergic! I am so grateful for almond milk! It wasn’t readily available back then.

After writing this, I called my kids, now adults with kids of their own, to ask if they had a revulsion to milk. Both of them answered, “Mom you know I’m allergic to milk, so I wouldn’t know!”

I told them, “No you probably aren’t!” I explained and they forgave me for lying about it. They both said it was no lose in their lives.