What else did we forget?

What else did we forget?

H.E.B. Then Giant. Then Dominick's and Jewel. If my lineage was traced through the regional grocery stores in my life this would be it. At least this would be what I remember, since I can't recall whether Giant was both in New Jersey and Maryland or just one or the other. And in each of these I would hunt out the one vice that connected me through every single place I lived as a child. Each had Little Debbie Snack Cakes.

Do you remember these? They looked like Little Debbie Zebra Cakes but they had chocolate frosting inside and out. The boxes of these delicious little buggers disappeared a long time ago, made a brief resurgence about three or four years ago, and then disappeared again. The Little Debbie website has no record of them. No pictures, no listing, no history ... it's almost as if the Snack Cake is their own version of Conan O'Brien on The Tonight Show; it never happened.

Which makes me wonder what else is missing in my life? What things did I intensely desire, what gave me comfort, what just made me stupidly happy that no longer exists? And worse yet, I don't remember that it existed? To be honest, had Little Debbie Snack Cakes not suddenly reappeared on shelves just a few years ago they'd probably be relegated to that portion of my memory that provides a stabbing, momentary reflex of nostalgia usually triggered by a sensory marker; a smell or a snippet of something just outside my field of vision. I think you know those moments. It's when you intensely feel deep nostalgia and longing for something very specific, but you can't quite remember exactly what it is you're pining for.

And I wonder, how many things are there out there that I no longer even realize I miss?