I’ve got a strawberry sundae candle

It wafts its fragrant scent to my nostrils from the mantle

The smell takes me back to childhood

To cookie animals and Fruit Loops

I grew up on cereal, that’s the truth

Looking back now, I can’t believe how much my parents let me eat

Captain Crunch, Honey Nut Cheerios, Trix, Magic Stars (the off-brand of Lucky Charms)

Even in high school, during the summer, I’d eat a bowl of Cheerios before cross country practice

Sugar!

I was fueled for whatever happened

Later in college I discovered Cinnamon Chex

I could eat those for breakfast and dessert

A little more sugar couldn’t hurt

My mom liked Special K

To me, there wasn’t much special about it

She would empty the box from her chair then toss it away

For a while I thought Frosted Mini-Wheats were healthy

Oh how packaging could be stealthy – look at all those vitamins, and wheat!

Frosted Flakes were also a special treat

There was once a moth in my Apple Jacks

You would think after that, one wouldn’t go back

But I did

My husband and I, early in our marriage, would get Post – it had walnuts and raisins

And he tried plain Shredded Wheat for a while

Those left us wanting, if you know what I’m sayin’

Now as an adult, I bypass the cereal aisle

I tell my patients not to eat it

A healthier diet is needed

I discovered steel-cut oats

The first time I had them as a kid, cooked, I thought I’d croak

They tasted like a booger

But now in my late 30s, I eat oats every day

With some sprinkled cinnamon, nut butters, nuts, and fruit

No added sugar

Steel, cut, Quaker, no other way

Maybe I need a candle that smells like oats

I think they make those

At least something that smells like vanilla

Cereal will kill ya

But for tonight, I smell the strawberry

Those sugary boxed carbs are now to me like the tooth fairy

In the past

Cereal for a time when sugar was imperial

I wouldn’t feed it to my offspring

Pass the oats, please, if that’s what you’re offering