"Cold Snaps" -- A Silly Memory for Chris AND An Oklahoma Memory for Us All

Once upon a time, in my previous life at Degree Granting University, I was the second wife to a great guy named Chris. Don't get me wrong; his first wife was alive and well, and they were still married. You might know her--her name is Cindy. Oh, and Chris and I never exchanged vows. We never even kissed! We just toiled, side-by-side, through grad school and wasted millions of hours standing around in Hastings and Staples. Chris was one of those geniuses who can dream up fabulous ideas, but never actually takes any action on them. You know the type.

Well, when the cold weather comes each year, I have a specific memory of one of Chris's ideas. You see, my dog Penny likes to drink cold water--really cold. She loves to have a bowl of water outside and drink it first thing in the morning when it's almost frozen. But during the very cold weeks, it freezes over completely, and she can only lick it, which doesn't make her happy. On those mornings, I take her bowl, dump the block of ice into the pool--which breaks the thin layer of ice on the pool--and dip her bowl into the pool to fill it with nearly-frozen water.

And this little morning ritual--the third year I've done it--always makes me think of "Cold Snaps".

While shuffling around in Hastings one cold winter evening, Chris suddenly said something like, "You know what I've been thinking about? Inventing a candy called Cold Snaps. You know, the weathermen always say we're having a cold snap? These Cold Snap candies would be bite sized, like hard candy. They'd be sold in the freezer, along with the ice cream, at the gas station."

To which I said something along the lines of, "Oh yeah? So, what. They'd be minty or something?"

And Chris said, "Well, that's the beauty of it--we'd make a killing off of them because we wouldn't need to add any artificial flavor or anything. And the production process and materials would cost almost nothing. We'd only have to pay for packaging and transport."

That comment was obviously designed to pique my interest. Chris likes to unravel his plans that way--to really draw you in. "So what exactly would these things BE, if they're not minty and the materials cost almost nothing?"

"Ice. They're just little ice cubes. But if you package them right, people will buy them! I guarantee it! Cold Snaps! You pop them out of the package on a hot day, and get a cold snap in your mouth!"

He went on and on. I'm sure you can imagine.

So when I dump Penny's ice out in the morning, I think to myself, "Penny must not like Cold Snaps."

Chris, I miss you, buddy.

* * *

Sometimes I get nostalgic for Oklahoma. You know what I was feeling nostalgic for yesterday? Well, I was standing in the post office, here in Georgia, and I suddenly had a memory of that fellow at the post office in StagnantPond, Oklahoma. You know the one? The 40-something man with the long ponytail? He was kind of silly and would joke with you? Yeah. I missed him, yesterday. And I thought about him, standing in a post office 18 hours away (by car) selling stamps and weighing packages and how he would be cheery no matter what.