Yet Another Reason to Embrace the Single Life
After seven days of grueling chocolate consumption, I’ve finally polished off the last of my Valentine’s Day candy. This is not to suggest that I had any great number of suitors showering me with gifts last week (I received one and only one Valentine this year; it was from one of my preschoolers and it was not edible), but instead that my mother is a professional when it comes to scoping out half-price post-holiday sales. And in this case, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“I bought you peanut butter M&Ms!” she announced triumphantly when I arrived home from work on Wednesday.
“I bought you peanut butter M&Ms!” I replied, brandishing my own shopping bag. In truth I planned to eat most of the M&Ms myself (it was a “family” bag, if you will) but I kept this thought private.
“Where’d you get yours?” she asked.
“Riteaid. Clearance sale. You?”
“Riteaid.”
And no, I’m not making this up. My mother and I went two separate Riteaids and bought two separate bags of peanut butter M&Ms at half price on the same day, probably within a few hours of each other.
I have the theory about Valentine’s candy. It’s better to eat it all at once because the quicker you get rid of it, the quicker it’s gone and the quicker it’s gone, the quicker you can go back to the sort of eating habits that might actually increase your chances of acquiring a boyfriend.
As such, I’ve disposed of my M&Ms as quickly as possible… which reminds me of the last time I did have a boyfriend to buy me Valentine’s candy.
During my senior year of college, it snowed quite heavily the morning after the big day. I did what any independent, self-sufficient college girl would have done: I attempted to shovel my car out, gave up after about ten minutes and called my then-boyfriend.
“I’ll be right over,” he assured me. True to his word, he arrived half an hour later and shoveled out not only my car but also the requisite path behind my parking space to compensate for the fact that I’m a total wimp about driving in the snow and panic if my wheels start to spin.
Tossing his shovel in the back of his jeep, he slipped his arm around my waist and asked, “Can we go back to your room now and eat some of those chocolates I brought over yesterday?”
“Sure,” I replied. “But, um, about those chocolates…I kind of, well, they’re gone.”
“All of them?”
“Well…”
“The whole box?” He was incredulous, but then again he rarely ate anything.
“I’m in college!” I cried in defense. “College is stressful! I had a math test this morning.” (Math was the bane of my existence senior year, mainly because I had left this particular gen ed requirement until my final semester and was therefore saddled with an 8:30am class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during what should have been the swansong of my college career.)
“You’re too much,” he replied, shaking his head. “Come on.”
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss having a handsome thirty-something year old to shovel out my car and buy me chocolates but being single, I’ve discovered, does have it advantages: firstly, I don’t have to share my Valentine’s Day candy with anyone and secondly, I can eat as much as I like without feeling guilty.
Kat Echevarría Richter 
12 Responses to “Yet Another Reason to Embrace the Single Life”
Last paragraph: “firstly, I don’t have to share my Valentine’s Day candy with anyone and secondly, I can eat as much as I like without feeling guilty.”
If I read correctly, you did not (as in were not able to) share your candy with the then-boyfriend. And you did not profess much, if any guilt, So as I see it, single or not…. not much has changed.
I can relate, though, and I definitely agree: eat it quick to be rid of it. Your landlord, on the other hand, has chocolate she received last Easter Monday, 1/2 price day after of course. She calls it “savoring.” I call it “confused” and “irresponsible”.
Oh, I still eat my own chocolates or get little stuff to eat without sharing… I just dispose of the evidence in a special way that he can’t see what I did. I haven’t been eating as much candy as I used to, but when I do, he’s much better at sharing than me. I can’t help it, it’s chocolate!
I’d like to direct you to one of the favorite articles I’ve ever read concerning guilty pleasures:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/05/01/tf.men.guilty.pleasures/index.html
Be a man, Kat. Own it. 😉
Hah! Great link… but come on now, surely POSTING about my chocolate obsession equals ownin’ it, right? 🙂
Well, I’d say it’s a step (perhaps one of 12) in the right direction. :-p
Ok: Hi, I’m Kat and I’m a chocoholic 🙂
Peanut Butter M&M’s – Living in Australia I feel like i am totally missing out . MUST. FIND. ( And never share when I eventually do.)
Ummm, hello? Bag of regular M&M’s plus jar of peanut butter.
What’s the problem? 😉
Really ? I thought this would make for a bit of a gagging taste in my mouth so wasnt really thinking it was a great idea. Is it acceptable to add a side of Icecream as well ?
That’s totally one of the main reasons I enjoy being single. For me, it’s not V-day candy intake, but the ridiculous amount of ice cream I eat year-round. Oh, and the insane numer of rolls of toilet paper I go through in a month. These are my dirty little secrets – and instead of judgement, I just laugh at myself 🙂
You can all have as much MILK chocolate as you want, I’ll give you ALL of it…but hands off of my dark chocolate, and that means YOU 🙂 Yes, I still have some chocolate from Christmas, but not last Easter, I mean let’s be realistic 😉
There’s three of us in this house and we went through 5 pounds of Purdy chocolates (premium brand sold in Canada, I don’t know about US) Nuff said.
Pat
PS But for a calorie free type of chocolate try Better Than Chocolate through Amazon.