Longtime Addiction

Fun Fact:
Alaska law-Moose may not be viewed from an airplane.

So if I see one, I'll shut my eyes!

I was sitting at lunch yesterday, munching on some rabbit food (salad) and I suddenly became very thirsty. Being without a water bottle, I had to reenter the establishment from which I had purchased food to get a drink. In this particular eatery, there was a plethora of choices. Any juice you might desire, punch, tea, milk, water, flavored water, coffee (iced, hot, or otherwise), smoothies, exotic drinks ...... With so many choices, one might think that I'd have to spend a good deal of time making a decision.

However, I knew exactly what my palate needed before I even got out of my seat. I small cup, filled a little more than halfway with ice, submerged in ice cold diet coke.

I thought this was a particularly fitting picture considering what I think of as a long-standing addiction. Thankfully, in my younger years my intake of such substances was limited. In fact, before I became insatiably obsessed with diet coke my preference was Vanilla Coke. I think though that eventually I realized that drinking large amounts of sugar was not the best option, so I switched to putting the allegedly carcinogenic Aspartame in my system.

My obsession with diet coke is unique in my opinion. For me, its not about having a fridge stocked full, or choosing it as a substitute to water. No, I still drink other things (my cranberry juice wanted me to tell you that this morning). But, no matter the flavor of the day, the type of food, or the mood I'm in, diet coke never ceases to please me.

Do you hear that, Coca-Cola? I know there aren't illegal drugs in your drinks any longer. But I also know that diet coke from a fountain drink dispenser is a standard separate from any drink I've ever had. I've been out at a bar at night and wanted nothing more than "diet on the rocks." There is a place that I find as those CO2 bubbles pop under my nose that I struggle to find anywhere else. Peace. Serenity. Diet-coke.

Never mind the stains its leaving on my teeth. Never mind the undifferentiated cells in my body that are being influenced by aspartame. Never mind the walls of my digestive organs being dissolved by the acid.  It's all good. It's one of those situations where you have weighed the cost and decided you can't do math anyway so who cares about cost.

This leaves me wondering what happens to my diet coke addiction in Alaska? Maybe they only drink bear repellant! And I will not be allowed to bring an emergency supply of diet coke on the plane per the regulations of the people who are in charge of making regulations. 

The wild frontier. Here I come!