Hershey Bar Squares

There's a smile in every Hershey Bar ~Hershey Advertising Slogan

One of my fondest memories of my youth was the big, milk chocolate Hershey Bar formed into squares. To me, the squares were a palette of chocolate gold.  They were a rare treat in our family. Those rare times we sunk our teeth into the chocolate morsels were when my father had been out of town on a business trip and would bring home a Hershey bar to share with us kids. He didn't bring home bars. He brought home a single bar and from that bar, we kids were each treated to a single, delicious square. 

There was not much disposable income during the years I grew up. We didn't have a lot of things nor did we visit exotic locales....exotic other than central Wisconsin where we vacationed practically every summer in our personal compound of tents and sleeping bags on our 'summer estate'. Of course, with the lack of disposable income came with it a lack of things. We didn't have latest cool bikes like my friends and our clothing was frequently hand me downs from our neighbors or custom creations formed on a sewing machine by my mom.

The one thing we never wanted for as children was the unconditional love that seemed to ooze from my parent's pores. They loved us completely every day of our lives, a love that still is a staple of the family in which I was lucky to be raised, a love uniquely shared between me and my siblings and my Mother and with the memory of my departed Father.

Their love was manifest in listening to us speak from the depths our souls even when the revelation our souls made them uncomfortable. It was manifest in the shoulder to cry on when love broke our hearts. It was manifest in encouraging us to choose a path in life that revealed who we were born to be rather than who they thought we should be. It was manifest in the discipline we received when we crossed the line from acceptable to unacceptable actions. It was manifest in the sacrifices they made to ensure we were loved especially in those time when we were unlovable.

Love is a funny thing in that the more love you give away the more love you receive. The love we received is now a love that is being passed down through the generations. I see that love in myself as I give it to my children. I see it in my children as they express it upon my grandson.

A workmate was selling candy today for his/her child and I bought one. I ate that Hershey bar, the entire bar all by myself one square at a time. The experience was much more than a mere chunk of chocolate that melted in my mouth. Every square of the Hershey bar embodied the love I felt as a child and every square I put into my mouth melted my heart.