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| FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS | forsythnews.com
Concealing chocolate not as easy as it seems
Some of you may judge me for
this. 1 know that ahead of time.
But. a few of you will under
stand. And maybe you do this
vourself from time to time.
It started a few years ago. when
Cole was around 4.
I locked myself in the bathroom,
hoping for privacy.
Cole. being part cat, tried to paw
me out from under the door.
“What are you doing?"” he want
ed to know.
“Nothing!™ I cried.
“ can see your feet! What are
you doing?!”
He frantically started hitting the
door. “Let me in!"
His howls were now becoming
far too loud and would soon draw
attention.
I had to do the unthinkable.
1 had to let him in.
“What are you doing”"” he asked
again. .
I swallowed. “Nothing.”
He sniffed the air then shot an
accusatory glance at me. *“1 smell
chocolate.” he declared.
I couldn’t hide it any longer.
I had hid in the one room with a
lock to eat a candy bar.
A precious. precious candy bar.
Without sharing it with anyone
else.
Cole readied himself to wail —
what kind of horrible person hid to
eat a candy bar and didn’t share
with her child?
It wasn't that I was necessarily
A visit to the sweetest place on Earth
A few years ago when I had a
new book releasing about
Southern women, the publisher
asked me to speak at a conference
for owners of small bookstores
across America. In the midst of a
book tour that included Atlanta,
Nashville, Memphis, Tenn.,
Birmingham, Ala., Little Rock.
Ark., and Charlotte, N.C.. we
added a stop in Pennsylvania.
Not just anywhere in
Pennsylvania but the spot known
as the sweetest place on earth:
Hershey, Penn.
The conference itself at the
Hershey Resort was memorable
mainly because of a first time
author who spoke before me and
turned his allotted 15 minutes into
52 minutes and bored the audi
ence to such an extent that only a
few woke up to listen to my sto
ries. He was a nice man, a very
humble one. But speaking was
not his forte. It’s a lot more com
plex than it may look and there’s a
bit of a science to it: Entertain the
HOROSCOPES by Holiday
ARIES (March 21-April 19).
What's the objective? Call it
out, and then direct your
power there at least three
times today and for 50 min
utes at a time. This will be a
magic quick-start recipe for
you, especially if done
before sunset.
TAURUS (April 20-May
20). Helping those in need
isn't optional to you, as there
is something inside that sim
ply must commit to the task.
Furthermore, as far as your
family is concerned you're a
regular superhero.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21).
For modern humans, the
Engage Your Way.
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SUDIECROUCH
Columnist
hiding to keep it from Cole.
But maybe I was trying to hide it
from someone else.
Like his father.
1 quickly promised the child his
own candy bar, or maybe a trip to
Dairy Queen if he would keep it
on the down low. He lowered his
eyes and agreed, already plotting
to get both.
Over the years, 1 found other
hiding places but they have not
been nearly as effective.
1 thought my office would be
ideal, in all of its cluttered confu
sion.
1 successfully hid bags of Dove
for a while, until my hiding spot
was one day discovered.
When I reached under the care
fully placed envelopes and maga
zines in the basket, the bag was
empty.
Except for a few wrappers, evi
dence of the transgression that had
occurred.
I gasped.
He had found my candy. And
ate it.
How did he find my hiding
space? How did he even know I
RONDA RICH
Columnist
audience, move them emotionally
and pack a point to each story.
Once | agreed to speak to a
Rotary Club and drove an hour to
keep the commitment. A member
of the club, clearly not a fan of
mine, took the floor and refused
to yield. In the end, I had given up
the better part of a day to speak
for 10 minutes.
Back to sweeter things, though.
The trip to Hershey was fasci
nating. While the rest of the tour
took me to the legendary Peabody
in Memphis, the revered Tutwiler
in Birmingham and the old Duke
Mansion in Charlotte which was
once the majestic home of the
pains of life are emotional
and existential as often as
they are physical. For you
there will be a wonderful
mix — just enough stimuli to
spur you to a romantic, bril
liant, existential idea.
CANCER (June 22-July
22). It is usually experience,
and not genetics, that makes
a person ruthless. A kind
hearted.person makes the
ruthless nervous, as they will
find the kindness beautiful
and therefore threatening.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22).
Your idea is still hovering
between the realms of here
and not here. You can sense
had candy?
1 asked all these questions aloud
to the empty bag of Dove milk
chocolate.
*1 think he noticed you kept
coming in here.” a voice answered.
It was Cole; not the bag.
“You kept getting up and walk
ing in here for a few minutes. I
think he wondered what you were
doing.”
And, I foolishly didn’t hide the
wrappers | put in the trash.
Had I really gotten so lackadai
sical I didn’t cover up my tracks?
*I will have to find another hid
ing spot,” I said. sinking into my
chair. -
*He will keep looking until he
finds it.” Cole whispered.
Much like Liam Neeson hunting
down his daughter’s kidnappers in
Taken, Lamar would sniff out
every square of chocolate I had
until it was no more. And he would
eat it, shamelessly.
1 have known for more than 13
years now that I have to strategical
ly hide chocolate from him. Lamar
doesn’t know it but we almost
broke up once over a Girl Scout
cookie. Well. two actually. He
came over one night — to eat left
over pizza — even though I told
him I was near death and shivering
on the couch.
“I am just coming by to eat the
pizza and watch some TV he
promised.
How romantic, | thought dryly
man who founded American
Tobacco and funded Duke
University, | was captivated by the
gentle town built by the chocolate
created by Milton Hershey.
Milton and his wife. Catherine.
died childless and. as a result, left
their entire fortune in a trust that
oversees the Milton Hershey
School for disenfranchised chil
dren. That trust is the sole share
holder of one of the world’s larg
est chocolate fortunes. This is
amazing in a time when few cor
porations still exist without merg
ers of any kind yet this corpora
tion, the maker of kisses, choco
late bars, Reese’s and syrup,
answers solely to children. There
is something particularly poignant
about the fact that kids love candy
and Hershey's candy loves chil
dren.
Since chocolate kisses are
stirred up in a nearby factory, the
air hangs sweetly with the smell
of diet-free thoughts. With check
in you receive a big Hershey’s
it on the other side of a
membrane, wondering
about you as much as you
are wondering about it.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).
Is your dream improbable?
So what? So are you. That
this iteration of you came to
be at all was against the
odds, beyond your compre
hension. Considering how
very lucky you've been, you
might want to push that a lit:
tle further.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23).
Do you know the depth of
what you have loved? Few
can claim that knowledge,
but if you strive for it even a
little thic day, you'll be richer
for the reach.
as | hung up the phone. I snoozed
on the couch while he ate the left
overs and watched some bicycling
documentary on cable. Before he
left, he had kissed my head and
told me had already taken the evil
beagle out and for me to lock my
deadbolt.
The next morning. all 1 could
think of was Thin Mints and
Samoas —the fresh boxes I had
bought on my way home and had
been too sick to eat.
Surely. cookies and coffee
would make me better.
There was one each left in
the box.
Lamar was dangerously close to
be permanently single that day.
After we married. he ate my
birthday chocolate bar that our
neighbor brought me.
I had hid it. too, mind you,
tucked behind some condensed
soup and other stuff that I knew he
wouldn't even give a second
glance to. But he knew there was a
chocolate bar in the house and he
had to eat it.
Now. he was not only finding
the stuff in the cabinets or pantry,
he was brazenly coming into my
office. rifling through the papers
and stuff to find the chocolate.
I didn’t know what to do.
Should I hide it in plain sight? Or
maybe get one of those hollow
books that people hide their valu
ables in?
“Mama!” Cole cried one day as
chocolate bar. The morning that I
ordered breakfast — an oatmeal
brulee made with Hershey’s choc
olate — and I received another
chocolate bar tucked onto the tray,
I knew I would never forget
Hershey. Penn., or the Hershey
Resort. | was determined to
return.
When Tink and I planned a trip
to Connecticut to visit his family,
I suggested a stop in Hershey for
an overnight stay at the resort.
This was better than where he
wanted to spend the night:
Gettysburg, Penn.
“We won there.” he smiled.
“Don’t you want to visit?”
“1 prefer to eat chocolate than
recall defeats of the bitterest.
bloodiest kind.” I replied.
The first time [ visited, a blan
ket of lush white snow covered
the ground while thousands of
lights twinkled in the night amidst
the stonework and the charming
structures that dot the streets.
Hershey is a town that ages well,
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov.
21). There's an impulsive
ness to the day. You have
many friends, and you
should call on one who is
particularly knowledgeable
before you make the move
you are contemplating.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov.
22-Dec. 21). You want to help:
Carry the groceries; hear out
the problem; connect the
people who should know
one another. Whatever the
deal, you want to contribute.
You're versatile. You'll find a
way.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan.
19). Your fortune will follow
this dictum: Stacks and
stacks of near misses and
SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2016
he looked over the shelves in the
pantry. His box of Little Debbies
was gone, or rather, the empty box
was sitting on the shelf.
*1 put my name on them,” he
said forlornly.
“Your daddy doesn’t pay atten
tion to that,” I said, empathizing.
don’t think he cares, either.” If he
would eat a king size chocolate bar
in a bright pink wrapper that read,
“For you, Birthday Girl!” I don’t
think a sticky note with the name
“Cole” in permanent marker was
going to stop him.
“You've got to start hiding
food,” I said simply. *“You need a
hiding spot — one better than
mine — and you need to hide your
treats. Your daddy is worse than a
Little Debbies, root beer —
anything Cole put back to enjoy
later, like during one of his favor
ite shows, his father would find
and eat.
A few weeks later, Cole found a
small Coleman cooler at the store.
It was just big enough for a six
pack of Barq's and some
Strawberry Shortcake rolls.
It worked, too, for about two
weeks. “Hey, this is a neat little
cooler! What's in it?” we heard his
father say.
The other day I found a wrapper
in the bathroom trash. I didn’t say
a word, I just helped hide the evi
dence.
so when I returned, with Tink in
tow, five years later, it was still as
lovely even without the snow. Of
course, Tink, who has a sizeable
sweet tooth, was won over com
pletely by the first chocolate bar.
“How can you not love a place
that has chocolate kisses sitting in
bowls throughout the hotel?” He
asked.
But the sweetest thing about the
town that calls itself the “sweetest
place on earth” is that our crav
ings are the makings of better
futures for under-privileged chil
dren. And that, is worth an over
indulgence of Reese’s pieces.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling author
“What Southern Women Know{That
Every Woman Should).” Visit www.
rondarich.com to sign up for her free
weekly newsletter.
then suddenly a hit. How
wonderful it will feel, this
victory you have so diligent
ly earned!
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb.
18). You know what you
have to do if you're going to
walk your talk: Wean yourself
off the distraction that’s been
taking so much of your atten
tion and giving so little back
to you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March
20). The dramas on televi
sion are exciting and rapid
fire representations of lives
that no one lives.
Contrastingly, real life has
minimal plot and extraordi
nary beauty, which you'll
enjoy today.