My favorite book when I was a little boy had to be “Coco’s Candy Shop.” I traveled across the colorful pages with Coco and friends as we all learned valuable life lessons. It was the perfect escape. I remember curling up beside my bulldog George in a sunny part of the yard, usually underneath the giant pecan tree near the barn, reading aloud to Daddy’s chickens as they meandered by, unimpressed.
Yesterday I was reminded how much life is like a candy shop, filled with choices. One of my best friends and her two children came to town, and we visited the local candy shop. The children’s faces lit up with joy the moment we passed through the door and intensified as they pressed their noses to the glass cases containing the sugary confections. Mary Ashton quickly selected a candied apple covered in white chocolate topped with miniature M&Ms, while the rest of us took our time.
The world is full of variety, countless options, and if we take an optimistic view, endless sweets for us to savor. Very much like the candy shop, life has something for every taste. We just have to choose wisely and satisfy our own taste buds. If we make the wrong choice, we hope for a chance to make a better one.
Zayne cautiously bit into a red velvet dark chocolate truffle, followed by one of the white chocolate-covered strawberries. I give him two thumbs up for being adventurous. He liked his second choice better, and that has been a metaphor for my life more than a few times.
It all reminds me of going with Mama to Mr. Steven’s grocery store where my brother Tony and I would scramble our way to the candy section. It was the old-fashioned kind that I don’t see much anymore, with little bags to be filled with our favorites. Mama and I shared a fondness for caramels, orange slices and Hershey’s kisses. My brother loved the chocolate footballs wrapped up in foil papers. We were sure licorice was of the devil and also stayed clear of anything with coconut.
So Forrest Gump was right. Life is indeed like a box of chocolates filled with a bright, colorful smorgasbord of chances. My hope for all of the graduates this May from Head Start to medical school is for you to find your own little bags and fill them with the sweet taste of success. It doesn’t matter a bit to me how you define that success. Use your own taste buds.
Oh, and my friend Hope chose fudge for the car ride home. I might have had a piece of divinity while we were there, but that’s my business. I think I will dig my old book out of the closet and see what message Coco and friends have for me after all these years.
Email reaches former Columbus resident David Creel at [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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