I Earned My Coke Today



It’s strange what triggers memories. Today was a heavy cleaning day.  Initially with Covid isolation I stayed on top of everything, but this past week I let everything slide and had to scrub all the bathrooms, dust  and change the sheets and some laundry.  At the end I was hot and sweaty and when I sat down all I wanted was an ice cold Coke.  It was palpable how my body was tuned to receive its reward.


Growing up my family had enough, but Coke (and I do mean Coke no other cola would do) was for special treats, maybe the rare occasion when Dad would go down the hill and pick up a pizza.  My mom would split 2 cokes between my sisters and me.  My sisters would demand the cans, I took the glass.  Then my sisters would watch to make sure that my mom did their cans half and half.  I was an adult before I realized that I actually ended up getting a whole can of coke when each of them got half.  Mom told me it was my reward for not making a fuss about me not getting a can.  I can still remember the clear plastic glass with a green frog decal on one side and a yellow duck the other side.  Memories, snapshots of days gone by.


Later after the divorce Mom worked long hours and my siblings and I were responsible for the day to day cleaning and washing of dishes.  However, there were days when Mom was off work and we were home from school when it would be a spring cleaning day, even if it was summer, winter or fall.  The downstairs closet in the three bedroom townhouse we rented would have to be cleaned and organized.  Sheets would be changed, vacuum had to be run, bathrooms scrubbed, windows washed, We would start in the morning and by afternoon we would be finished, perhaps Mom had gone to the grocery and picked up some honey baked ham and shaved chicken for sandwiches. Definitely there would be Mikesells Potato chips (fried in peanut oil) and Deans French Onion Dip.  Maybe it was a cool day and she would make a pot of chili so we could eat when we wanted.  Mom would have hers with a peanut butter sandwich (don’t sneer, it really is a good combination).  


But the best part as we sat down after a hard day’s work was the tall glass filled to the brim with ice and the snap of the can, the sound of the fizz and the glug glug as it was poured into the glass.  That first sip.  Fizz bubbles tickling the nose and that first ice cold sip as the Coke, burned its way down the throat.  Followed by that satisfied feeling that all was right with the world, because the house was clean, my stomach was being fed, and I had earned my Coke after a hard days work.  




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