The Wrong* Yogurt

*Or so I thought.

A Peanut Butter Dream flavored Chobani Flip... my profound psychological awakening?

Earlier today, as I was setting up this blog actually, my stepdad knocked on my bedroom door.

"Yes?" I answered.

"I'm assuming yes means come in..."

He wanted to let me know he was running to the store and asked me what kind of yogurt I wanted.

I'm a huge fan of Chobani Flip — the ones where there's yogurt on one side, and then you flip and pour in toppings like chocolate chips, peanut clusters, etc. My favorite flavor is called Peanut Butter Cup. I'm a loyalist and have had only Peanut Butter Cup Chobani Flips for the past two years. Once I found my preferred quick breakfast yogurt, I stuck to it like Gorilla Glue. Me and Peanut Butter Cup were totally inseparable.

I texted him the name and that I wanted the pack of four Flips.

Now, I'm no culinary expert or food scientist, but there's so much nostalgia that's tied to flavor, tasting, and the textural act of eating something. It can bring back people, places, certain memories...

Like when I have scrambled eggs with feta cheese, I think of my grandpa. When I eat Velveeta Shells mac-and-cheese, I'm taken back to a very specific beach vacation with my cousins. Meatloaf makes me remember my uncle and the big dining room table in the house I grew up in.

For the past two years, Peanut Butter Cup flavored Chobani Flips and I have been through a lot together. Late nights studying in my college apartment, laughing at breakfast with my roommates, eating my feelings in the aftermath of heartbreak.

So you can imagine my shock when I opened the fridge to find Peanut Butter Dream.

Yes Peanut. Yes Butter. No Cup.

My first thought was that Peanut Butter Cup would somehow find out I'd been cheating on it and hate me forever. My second thought was that Chobani Flips weren't sentient and that I really needed to get a grip on reality.

I'd never tried Peanut Butter Dream before. Hesitant, I pulled it from the fridge and got a spoon. I was fully expecting to suffer through it. I was going to just eat it and stay quiet and grateful...

But there was no suffering. It was great. Totally yummy yogurt. A real Dream. Heh.

I don't know if it will take the place of my favorite yogurt, but Peanut Butter Dream definitely got my seal of approval. And even more than that, because that little cup of yogurt taught me a lesson.

It's okay to miss the past, but there are good things still ahead.

It's okay to miss breakfast with your roommates in your messy college apartment, but meals with your parents in their cute little house on the bayou are something to cherish.

It's okay to miss your classes and college routine, but life afterwards can be just as rewarding and exciting.

Your Peanut Butter Cup will evolve into a Peanut Butter Dream. And that doesn't mean you're forgetting it or wishing it never existed, but acknowledging that more good things are still to come. That more opportunities still lie ahead for you.

Just give yourself some time, and open yourself up to new flavors and experiences.

And... now I'm crying about yogurt. Cool.