Has this ever happened to you?

We're at the grocery store (read: Target) last night as a family and we pass down the cereal isle to see if there's anything we want that Aldi doesn't have a knock-off of. Name brand cereal is a real treat for us - we rarely get it. I see a box of Corn Pops, and immediately start salivating. Yes, I know, it has no nutritional value and no real reason for even being a breakfast food - it's like eating candy with milk on it in the morning. But I'm nine months pregnant, so I'm allowed. However, when you're spending $3.59 for a box of cereal (as opposed to the $1.89 boxes we get at Aldi), you have to agree on the flavor as a couple.

So I turn to Michael with a look on my face that pleads "agree with me," and ask him if he wants some Pops. "Ew, no!" he says. So we settle on Quaker Oatmeal Squares with brown sugar. A very good choice. I even had a bowl last night after dinner. Very tasty.

But the need for Pops had not eluded me. Do you remember those commercials, I think in the early 90's, with the teenage kids scheming up ways to keep their Pops safe from their conniving little brothers or meddling dads? And the tag line always was, "Gotta have my Pops." This is going through my head all morning as I drive Shaelyn to gymnastics and eat my apple-cinnamon cereal bar. It's going through my head as I spot her on the balance beam. It's ringing in my ears as I wait patiently for her to get her end-of-class stamp. But wait! We always go to the Harris Teeter (a local grocery store) that's in the same shopping center right after gymnastics so that Shaelyn can get a free cookie and sit on their "mascot," Harry the Happy Dragon. A grocery store! They have Pops!

So I excitedly walk down the sidewalk with Shaelyn toward my Pops-craving savior - Harris Teeter. We get Shaelyn's cookie. She starts heading toward Harry the Happy dragon, which also happens to be by the exit. "Wait!" I exclaim. "Let's stop by the cereal isle and pick up some cereal for Mommy!" Shaelyn happily obliges and soon the box is in my hands. I can taste the sweet, buttery, oh-so-fluffy goodness in my mouth as I walk to the U-Scan to pay for it. I think about it all the way home and can't get there fast enough. I walk in and go straight for the kitchen, not even bothering to help Shaelyn take off her shoes and coat. I get a bowl, a spoon, the milk, and the box of Pops out of the grocery bag. Sure it costs $3.59. But right now it's going to be my own little piece of heaven.

I pour the delicious Pops into my bowl and let out a shock of surprise and disgust. My Pops aren't yellow or buttery or fluffy. They are brown and pebbly. These aren't Pops! These are something else entirely. I grab the box, wondering how I could possibly bought anything other than my beloved cereal. I remember the red Pops logo blaring out at me from the shelf. The letters beckoned to me. Upon further inspection of the box, and to my utter horror, I discovered this:
They make chocolate Pops now?!? So I finish filling the bowl, determined to eat the $3.59 cereal that I don't want. I must say, the cereal's not bad. I might even call it good. And if I were in the mood for chocolate and peanut butter, perhaps it's the best cereal ever. But I almost shed a tear as I finished the bowl. Because it did not satisfy my craving for the sweet buttery goodness of Pops. Not even close. And I just can't justify spending another $3.59 for the box of cereal I really want, especially when I felt like such a rebel buying this $3.59 box of cereal. So I'll just have to make due. Maybe if I concentrate really hard, those chocolate puffs will have some kind of buttery popcorn taste. Or maybe not.