Just like every other kid, I loved getting a free prize in the cereal box. To make sure that I didn't waste the cereal just to get the prize, I had to eat the cereal before I could get the prize. After about a week of school morning breakfasts, they would give in and let me rummage in the box for the prize. Sometimes they would be in a very charitable mood, and would let me open the cereal from the bottom and get the prize out first, but I knew I still had to eat the cereal before they'd buy ne another box with yet another prize. Yeah, that was strict, but it was just an example of tough love. I'd like to say that made me a patient person today, but that's not the case. But I digress.
Back in the day, you got very cool free prizes in cereal. Now, they're very cheesy and most of the times, you don't actually get a tangible free prize - you get a coupon for something. Not so with my beloved Cap'n Crunch. My favorite cereal box prize ever was a little plastic coin holder that came in a box of Cap'n Crunch. The outside was red, and you slid the lid off and inside were three slots that each held 3 quarters, nickels and dimes. When I had that coin holder full, I thought I was rich. Heck, that was $1.20 -- for a second-grader, that was rich. I carried the plastic coin holder most of my elementary school years until it finally fell apart. When Mom or Grandma would buy me a new purse, I'd be very picky and would make sure it had an inside pocket for my coin holder. I wish I had that coin holder now, and I wish it was full. That would be about $1.20 more than I have in my purse right now.
1 comment:
Your post kind of brings to mind the impatience of today's individual. No one wants to wait and instead want to jump over to the prize, which leaves them discontented oftentimes. I have counseled some individuals that were ready for a new career on entering the workforce at a more junior level. But everyone looks at salary instead of what starting out at an entry level will earn them in the long run - wisdom, experience and they will get that promotion and the money that goes with it. Instead, they hold out for the higher salaried position and end up waiting sometimes quite awhile, and some to their financial detriment. But had they been patient, and started out slow - well they would have achieved their goal at the end of the day. You could probably apply this to quite a few life situations! I wish for a gentler time too, of waiting with anticipation for the prize - it made the cereal all that more sweeter!
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