Something There

There's something sweet
And almost kind
But it was mean and it was coarse and unrefined
And now it's dear,
I'm so unsure,
I wonder why I didn't see it there before.

New and a bit alarming.
Who'd have ever thought that this could be?
True that there's no Prince Charming,
But there's something in it that I simply didn't see.

Granted, these lyrics are altered to suit my purposes, but they seem to aptly describe the phenomenon. The second grade, or about 1992 for those of you who don't judge your time according to my schooling, was a year that brought a lot of changes into my life. We moved to Fairfax, VA, I got to start walking to school (which was kind of cool at first), and the first time I had two teachers at school--they were experimenting new teaching methods on us. Also I made applesauce, hatched chicks, and kept crickets. But one of the most lasting changes from that year is that since that time I have been unable to eat vegetable pizza, jelly beans, and pumpkin pie. The vegetable pizza I can pin down to a specific, unfortunate, event that I was actually able to overcome some years ago. I still can't stand jelly beans, and to be honest I don't miss them at all. The pumpkin pie has caused me problems over the years, however. For one, my family, is a multiple pie family at Thanksgiving--the two most popular are banana cream and pumpkin. Since I don't like the latter, it is generally my philosophy that those who like both (pretty much everyone else in my family) should polish it off before they break into my favorite kind. But I'm seldom so lucky. Then last year I was genuinely concerned about offending whatever family I ended up spending Thanksgiving with by not eating their pumpkin pie. In fact, my companion, who was not even American was completely shocked that I didn't like this traditional holiday favorite. The puzzling thing for me has always been that I quite like other pumpkin desserts: pumpkin bread, pumpkin bars, and pumpkin cookies. But recently I've had several experiences with pumpkin pie that have begun to convert me. I'm still not entirely sure, but looks like I may be eating something this November 27 that I haven't done for 16 years.