Walking

out of my office building for lunch earlier today, it hit me.

The warm, wonderful, unmistakable smell of chocolate.

The air was thick with it.

Its healing powers were like magic as I imagined inhaling it all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes.

This heavenly scent wafts over occasionally from the Blommer Chocolate factory a few blocks away.

There’s a long list of things I love about working in Chicago. The chocolaty good air is near the top.
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I like Girl Scout cookies.

Not so much for the taste, because let’s be honest, they’re not even in the same league as Oreos or Keebler Fudge Stripes.

No, I like them because of the process.

You order them what seems like forever ago in October or November.

And long after you’ve forgotten how many or what kind, those unmistakable boxes appear on an otherwise ordinary day in March.

“Wow! Did I really order FOUR boxes of Thin Mints? What the hell was I thinking?”

I’m convinced the waiting actually makes them taste better than they would if you could pick them up at Jewel any time you choose.

Right now, sitting next to me on the train, is a plastic grocery bag filled with GS cookies. $21 worth to be exact. I actually left one box in the kitchen at the office to share. It was gone in less than 15 minutes.

The Thin Mints are for Jim. He likes putting them in the freezer and uses them to dress up a boring bowl of ice cream.

Me, I’m all about the Caramel deLites. They taste okay. But better still: the caramel pretty much holds everything together so it’s a relatively crumb-free cookie experience.
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I keep a stash of pretzels in my desk at work.

Everyone knows and they stop by occasionally for a snack.

It’s nice to have the visitors but they get surprisingly surly if I happen to be out of them.
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I wonder how they choose the photos.

Is there a contest? Are the girls from the troop that sold the most cookies the previous year? That would make the most sense I guess.

One would hope these are authentic Girl Scouts and not pseudo scouts hired because they’d look good on a box. That would be disappointing.
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Lenten Update: Sadly, I completely forgot my vow to be nice to irritating strangers and only thought of it Just This Moment. The good news is that I haven’t encountered any idiots in the past 48 hours, so I’m still goin’ to Heaven. For now.
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“What did you give up for Lent?” - H.
“In between meal snacks.” - Larry, my boss
“So no more pretzels for you then?” - H.
“No, but I can have four dry-roasted peanuts a day.” - Larry
“Is that in the Bible?” - H.
“Yes. And Moses walked into the desert with a large jar of peanuts.” - Larry
“And he said, ‘Let my peanuts GO!’” - H.
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I am reading: Salon.com
I am listening to: Alkaline Trio - Mercy Me
And I am: Pooped