Of Mini-Wheats Addiction/ Personality Disorder and Best Friends

I've had this uncomfortable hunch for a while now. I think I might be addicted to Mini-Wheats cereal and suffering from Mini-Wheats Personality Disorder. You know the cereal, small bite-size squares of shredded wheat, plain on one side and sugar coated on the other. I have Mini-Wheats everyday for breakfast combined in a big bowl with raw oatmeal and All Bran. (I know what you're thinking and yes it is a lot of fiber.) This fact alone does not concern me, as my husband assured me yesterday over breakfast he's been eating Mini-Wheats for breakfast for 30 years (and he seems perfectly normal).

Mini-Wheats showing off their sweet and unsweetened sides. (They barely survived the photo shoot)

No, I'm not worried about breakfast; my concern arises over the fact that they are my through-the-day-snack-food. I grab a handful mid-morning to get me through to lunch. I also notice that when I have some unpleasant chore to do, or when I have to phone someone I don't really want to talk to, when I should be working on my finances, or when I'm feeling blocked artistically or sorry for myself or annoyed or ticked-off, or sad...there I am with a few Mini-Wheats in my hand. Yikes! It's a wonder I get anything done at all what with my hand stuck in that Mini-Wheats box so often.

Remember I wrote about my recent trip to the spa? Well, tucked away in my overnight bag were two plastic baggies of Mini-Wheats. Yesterday when my daughter Sam was here with her husband and a lovely couple they went to college with, we were talking about snacking and I just happened to mention that I think I might be addicted to Mini-Wheats. "Yeah, I think you are." my daughter agreed. Then her friend's husband piped up that he too takes Mini-Wheats as a snack in his lunch every day. Maybe I'm not alone I thought, maybe there are others out there like me; closet Mini-Wheats addicts.

Which leads me to my second observation and concern. The Mini-Wheats personality disorder. Sure the little character on the cereal box is cute; he has his "sweet" side and his "healthy" side. Could it be that my addiction has caused me to develop my own sweet, thickly sugar-coated side to hide my not-so-sweet side? Yes, I have to confess that I believe that I suffer from this affliction.

Yesterday I was having breakfast with my three of my absolutely dearest and most trusted friends. Now when I say, "I was having breakfast", I don't mean the breakfast where I break fast (I had my Mini-Wheats at home) this is the "breakfast" that is more like the appetizer to my lunch. My friends were very lovingly pointing out how I most often blog in the voice of my sweet side - you know the sugary one who wants so much for you to enjoy the sweet life. I always want to encourage you, my readers, to embrace and create your most wonderful, creative, artistic, rewarding and meaningful life. And yes, maybe it is true that I have avoided showing you my unsweetened side, not for lack of authenticity but rather so that you would have an uplifting place to visit, a positive oasis in your day. Ah, but there is the rub isn't it? Can I honestly encourage you to embrace a more simple, sane, healthy and creative life if I don't also share with you my own struggles, failings, fears, the things that make me want to scream or cry or give-up? What would my beloved Mini-Wheats be if they were sugar-coated on both sides? Nothing more than another kids' sugary breakfast cereal.

Hmmm. Now there is some heavy food for thought. I'm actually tearing up as I write this. Thank you my cherished friends, you who have seen my sugar-side highs and more often at my unsweetened-side lows. Thank you for loving this Mini-Wheats friend enough to encourage me to just be me, whether it’s my sugar side or unsweetened side that happens to be floating in my cereal bowl.

Thank you for stopping by My Turquoise Kettle Life today,

May you have an honest-to-goodness day,

Sandra