We have plenty of local beekeepers that provide everything from lavender to wildflower, but whatever the variety, I still must have the bear.

Precious, no? He is a regular on my counter, golden and waiting.

More toast, Marilyn? No thanks. Just had some.

Well. Just butter, then. No – no, I couldn’t.

Yes you could. Ha ha, I never do that.

Oh, but you do.

What a kidder! Innocently plastic and well-meaning.  Still – sometimes I wonder about my will to honey, once in a while, when it turns just a tad too quickly from request to demand. Much the way some words, words you’ve used all your life – words like welcome or cheese – suddenly look wrong.  Chicken. Doorknob. If you fix long and hard enough, they swim out and back to focus, making you doubt they were ever right at all.  Doubt me?  Stare at the word doubt.

And there we are.  One day, the things you take for granted, your dear basics like language and crackers and honey, might all at once look different.   Are the things we love as sweet as they seem?

Oh, dear. Honey – or is it Hunny?

For me this is Cracker, Butter, Honey.

Salty, creamy, sweet, crunchy. If you add frothy hot chocolate in the evening, it’s the most delicious sleep aid you can get.

I’m not sure how these little inventions begin or at what point you stop hiding and just out your secret snack – but I do know that someday you’ll turn a corner, someday when a person watches you calmly slather butter and honey over Saltines, and your reaction is “Oh yeah? Doesn’t everyone love cracker butter honey?”

Because let’s face it – your snack is the most normal thing in the world. What calls your name in the afternoon, or before lunch, or late at night?

Show me your crispy, your spicy, your caramel-coated, your sweet! What’s that snack you’ve just gotta have?