Cherry Delight Disaster

It was a summer Saturday morning in 1966. My brother, Rick, and I were eager to go outside and play, but Mom and Dad were still sleeping so we kept ourselves occupied watching black and white cartoons. One of us would adjust the rabbit ears with aluminum foil dangling from the ends, until the other one said, “It’s good.”

A commercial flashed on the screen for Stax cereal. The announcer said it was "the cereal for adults that is toasted in places where other cereals don't have places!" We watched intently as the actor measured the small, near square, honeycomb-shaped pieces of cereal. He put a piece in his mouth and chewed it. He took another piece and began stacking the cereal. Then a woman came into the scene. She was eating her cereal and stacking it, too.

The actor said, “Once you stop snacking and start eating you'll find there's more to STAX than stacking. New Wheat Stax really tastes good. They're bite-sized chunks of toasted whole wheat. Crunchier because they're toasted on the bottom, top, sides—even inside. They're the toastiest, tastiest, crunchiest, stackiest cereal you've ever tasted.”

Rick and I raced to the kitchen to find the box of Stax cereal in the cabinet. We took it to the table and the competition was on. Who could build the tallest tower without it falling over? I was following the directions on the TV and put one in my mouth. Rick said, “We aren’t going to have enough. Stop eating it.” Each time one of our towers toppled over, it scattered cereal on the table and floor.

All of this work was making us hungry. We went to the fridge and saw one of Mom’s specialties, Cherry Delight. We thought that Mom would be so proud that we were eating fruit. Never mind the cream cheese, whipped cream and huge amounts of sugar. No need to get a plate, since we were both eating it we could easily polish off the 13” x 9” pan.

Imagine Mom’s surprise when she walked into the kitchen—it looked like a bomb went off. Cereal was on the table and floor. She gasped as she saw the empty pan of what had been Cherry Delight. She had made it for her bridge game. Mom tried to be mad, but laughter won. I’m not sure what food she took to the bridge game that day, but regardless she had quite the story to tell.

I was reminded how occurrences like this affect kids. One of my speaker colleagues, Michael Scott Karpovich, influences kids in a positive way. Michael began wearing two different color tennis shoes when he was a kid because he was dyslexic and needed a way to learn his left from his right. When someone comments on his shoes he answers, “I have another pair at home just like them!” 

He posted on LinkedIn that he would like endorsements as a youth programs speaker. Today’s gift was endorsing him in two youth related categories. I’m sure he has his own Cherry Delight disasters that he shares with kids so that when they do absurd things, they can learn to laugh it off too.

In Giving and Laughing,

Robin