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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Let me swing among those stars



You guys know I'm a huge fan of Quisp cereal, right? I'm such a fan that I actually bought a case of it on Amazon a few months ago. I'm pleased to report three of the original six boxes of that sugary corny goodness remain. Using some murky reserve of uncharacteristic restraint, I allow myself one box per month. Nevermind that I end up eating an entire box in a day. What's life without an occasional binge anyway? It's not like it's heroin or online gambling.

Well. WELL!

It appears that an unnamed chain store has caught on to the fact that there are still Quisp aficionados in this world who crave a return to a simpler time when one could sit cross-legged and sunk into a bean bag chair while wearing Holly Hobby footie pajamas and shoveling those sweet flying saucers of love from bowl to mouth in front of Scooby Doo. Oh to be able to wear footie pajamas again or to sit cross-legged without feeling all gimpy when I stand.

So there I am wheeling my cart around the final bend into the shoot for the cash registers and to what do my wondering eyes should appear?

No, not that miniature weirdo and his eight tiny reindeer. It's June. It was an entire endcap of Quisp!!!

There may have been some Cap'n Crunch and some other lesser cereal, but I only had eyes for the little pink guy with the propeller on his head.

I stopped in front of the display. Should I? I already had three boxes that would technically last me three months, but here were two entire shelves of Quisp offering me a gastronomical visit to1974 and I wouldn't have to pay a cent for shipping costs.

"Mom?" Sophie was impatient. When we left the house for a quick trip into town, she was all for the notion of getting out of the house because there was no one to hang out with. The minute the store's doors swung open for us, she received the first text wanting to know where she was. Her friends were anxious for her to get home to lead the mischief.

"Look! They have Quisp!" My pointing finger working overtime. "Here. And here. Live! In person!"

"Okay, but we have Quisp at home." She tugged on the cart.

I held firm. "But don't you see? We never see Quisp in the store. This is like the moon landing or or..." I struggled to find the right example. "It's like if you were to see Justin Beiber in the hair product aisle!"

She frowned and nodded in my direction. There was a man behind us waiting to get to the cash register.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just so overwhelmed to see they had Quisp," I said before pushing the cart into the lane.

The man sort of smiled like you do when you don't want to engage with someone, but you don't want to be rude.

I was still flying high so I told the sales associate how happy I was to see they were carrying Quisp. She smiled as she slid our items over the scanner. Beep. Beep. I could almost hear her thinking that she should get me out of the store quickly. Sophie floated a small distance away to escape my force field of cereal enthusiasm. I was so excited my hands shook a little as I pulled the cash from my pocketbook.

"This is so huge. It's like...." I handed the checker the money and looked at her. She was younger than me. Maybe twenty-five. Okay, a lot younger than me. Okay, I'm old enough to be her mother. What could I say to make her understand? "It's like if you were to see Posh Spice in the shoe section. Or. Or. It's such a big deal I feel like I could hug someone!"

She hesitated before handing me my change. I realized my faux pas and laughed. "I guess I got a little carried away." I glanced around to see how embarrassed Sophie was, but she'd been spared the public humiliation of being seen with me. She'd moved further away to fool around with the wedding registry kiosk, completely unaware that I was suggesting I should, or even could, hug strangers.

I thanked the checker and pulled the cart out of the way feeling like a moron. The man behind me was still unloading his items onto the conveyor belt, but he looked up and caught my eye. "Still looking for someone to hug? I'm buying Quisp."

19 comments:

  1. Ha! Perfect end to this priceless story. Sadly, I'm not familiar with Quisp. Is it because I'm Canadian???
    B

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  2. You're a woman after my own heart. ;o)

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  3. Ha ha. I love it. I was going to write that how you feel about Quisp is basically how I feel about all cereal, but I guess that's not true because other cereals are always readily available. But I totally get it. I think you should have bought a few boxes anyway, just because. :)

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  4. The Dairy Mafia says to soak your Quisp in milk (ugh). Real Quisp aficionados only use beer.

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  5. The box looks vaguely familiar. I'd look for it, but I don't want to reduce a limited supply if you are addicted. Trying to think if there was anything I ever loved that they stopped making. hmmm...

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  6. I'm sad that I had a granola nut for a mother. I, too, had a 70s childhood, but I don't remember Quisp. Still, there's nothing like a bit of nostalgia -- even if you have to borrow someone else's memories.

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  7. That picture of the propeller guy set off bells and whistles in my head! I was a hard core Quisp fan. Gotta check the grocery store.

    (sorry so late to the party. lots of catching up to do.)

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  8. Lisa-
    You have to send a link of this to the Quaker people. They have to send you some Quisp for a post like this.

    I can't believe I've never heard of it. I'm looking now after that ode.

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  9. You felt like I'd feel if they ever brought back diet apple soft drinks [I can't remember the brand name]. Go for it. Eat your cereal every day!

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  10. I have to agree with some of your audience. I've never heard of this stuff but I have to admit, your reaction to it does make me nervous. I'm thinking they've coated the flakes with some kind of addictive chemical. You know, the kind that makes you want to hug perfect strangers. I had that with Fruit Loops. I can't see a toucan without twitching.

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  11. I can't hear you. I'm hanging out with Sophie.

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  12. A similar thing happened to me a few months ago. I was in a Walgreens and I saw the original green bottles of Clairol Herbal Essence shampoo on a shelf. I was astounded. I showed it to my 11 year old daughter, proudly pointing out the hippie goddess woman on the bottle's front. She stared at me. "Mama, it's shampoo," she said.

    But, it wasn't. It was that same smell that took me back to making out in the back seat of Ben M's brother's car that he lent him for our date. And him taking a hank of my hair and putting it to his nose and smelling it and saying, "Your hair always smells so...good."

    God. I bought four bottles.

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  13. Maria! Thank you!!

    My grandmother used to always have this in the bathroom and it has been making me crazy that I didn't know what it was. As soon as I read the green bottle with the goddess I knew you had found it!

    You have no idea how much I was obsessing about that. Ridiculous, I know.

    -Lyra

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  14. I don't know from Quisp - but This was a nice story. Did he get a hug?

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  15. Girl, I had forgotten all about Quisp. Perfect ending to your story, too.

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  16. Unnamed chain store? I know which store that is (since I saw the same end cap of Quisp there the other day).

    Love the retro cereal.

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  17. We used to LOVE Quisp, except for the waxy film it'd leave on the milk.

    Rendering the bowl undrinkable.

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  18. Quisp was my favorite cereal growing up. I'm going to have to look for it. I understand how you must have felt. I would so have been there.

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