EDDY'S PAGE
by Eddy Robey M.A.

Life has ups and downs for everyone. Those who care for us do their best to celebrate the ups and ease the down times with hugs, smiles, and treats. Can you recall the tastes which meant comfort and love in childhood? There were family visits accompanied by coffee cake, happy dinners with baked apples or rice pudding for dessert, and the various ailments during which we were soothed by bed trays holding cups of sweet tea and rugelach. Our most tender memories are flavored with cinnamon.

With the first stirrings of adolescence comes a susceptibility to commercial messages. This is when the candy makers tell us that love tastes like chocolate. No more those happy morsels made from scraps of pie dough sprinkled with cinnamon sugar; only elaborate chocolate chip cookies will do.

Ad budgets being what they are, the gentle supportiveness of cinnamon treats doesn't stand a chance. Chocolate becomes equated with romance and passion in elegant gold boxes. Never mind that these things are made by machine; fools spend their money on mass-marketed love, and imagine that their gifts are meaningful.

Yes, those beribboned ballotins impart a message. They say loud and clear that the recipient is only worth the time it takes to throw a few bills on a counter, or place a telephone order. How paltry beside the caring labor of hands which make and serve apple dumplings, or a bread pudding with plenty of plump raisins.

During February, the nights are cold and bitter. There is no better comfort than hot spiced cider, but there are many who will come in from the shivering weather and try to get cozy with chilled Champagne. How sad, to choose a chemical reaction over genuine warmth.

Real love doesn't come wrapped in fancy paper or awash in alcohol. Why don't you try a compromise? Take a lovely walk under the winter stars, then come in and get homey with some cocoa and cinnamon toast. There is no treat more guaranteed to evoke memories of gladness. Perhaps, you will create the sort of lasting joy you truly desire.