Two weeks without Dew

I've been drinking Dew since July of 1989. I can remember my first one:

...hazy segue cloud descends over everyone's eyes as I take you back to that hot summer day...

I was at the Boy Scount National Jamboree. It was hot, there were thousands and thousands of people, and there weren't enough soda machines. So, every day at around 1 p.m. a line of boys would form in front of the only soda machine near my camp. The soda guy came to refill it around 1:30 or so. He'd show up, we'd all wait impatiently as he'd refill and then we'd buy all the soda we could afford. The machine would be empty by 2, long before any of the sodas had a chance to get cold.

I would typically buy a couple Sprites. But, on the third or fourth day I got there a little late and by the time I got up to the machine, Sprite was sold out. So, I bought my first Mountain Dew. As I walked away, I cracked it open and hesitantly took a little sip of the warm liquid. As the first drop touched my toungue the clouds parted and a beam of light shown down on me. At the same time fireworks screamed into the air and exploded (kind of a waste, though since it was the middle of the day); people cheered; someone, somewhere fainted. It was the finest drink, no, the finest food, NO! It was the finest thing ever crafted by the hand of man. I may have wept at the beauty as I stood there transfixed by this amazing new drink I had discovered.

Needless to say, the next day I was there much earlier and I didn't buy any Sprite. A week or so later, after the Jamboree was over, I had my first cold Dew. It took me a while to get used to it, but soon was as in love with a nice cold Dew as I was with a nice warm Dew.

Dew and I lived happily ever after.

...hazy segue lifts and steals your wallet, leaving you back in the now, but penniless...

Ever after, that is, until two weeks ago today. Two weeks ago today, I was home sick with fake pneumonia. Since I felt awful anyway, I figured it'd be a good time to give up Dew. You see, as I've aged, all the caffeine and sugar in Dew that makes it so wonderful have started to affect my sleep and my waistline. So, I've been thinking about giving it up for a while now, but have put it off, remembering the headaches I've suffered on previous attempts. So, since I was miserable anyway, I'd just pile on.

That day, February 23, 2006, Cyndi bought me my last Dew. It was a large from Taco Bell. Now, usually Taco Bell's Dew is not the best, but on that day, it was great. It really was; I hadn't decided to quit yet, so I wasn't savoring it as my last Dew ever or anything. I wish that I had. I would've sipped it slowly and let it drain leisurely from my mouth into my stomach, enjoying the sensation as the cool liquid traveled down my throat. But, alas, I didn't realize it at the time, and now it's gone.

Since then, I've been drinking a lot of drinks that are poor replacements: various sodas, juices, Gatorade, and even the worst of the worst, water. I'm a slightly sadder man now.

Perhaps I'll try heroin.