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Posts: 2479 · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:17 am

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The Gift of Chocolate and Love
Merrie Root

My memories of my dad after his stroke are mostly of him sitting in a chair eating candy. He could no longer work, so my mom was left to support our family of five.

I wasn’t a deprived child except when it came to my dad’s nonpareils, those yummy round chocolates with white sugar beads on top. They were my dad’s favorite, his one luxury, and he always had some. My mouth watered every time I saw them sitting next to him. Oh, how I wanted to take the whole bag and stuff them into my mouth.

I’d watch my dad eat those candies and beg with my eyes. Every now and then it worked and he gave me one. I was in heaven when I was given a nonpareil. I tried to make it last as long as possible by picking off the sugar beads and eating them one at time and finally letting the chocolate slowly dissolve in my mouth.

I never forgot how good those nonpareils were and vowed that someday I would have a whole bag of them.

My dad had another stroke and died when I was twelve. Years later at a grocery store I saw a bag of nonpareils and bought them. As my little girl and I sat and ate them, I told her about my dad. The memories were bittersweet.

I lost my mom when I was twenty-one. Before she died, she gave me her first diamond ring from Dad. I gave it to my older sister so she could have the diamonds put in another setting. She said that someday when I was more settled she would give it back to me so I could pass it on to my daughter. I thought about it through the years. It was beautiful, full of memories, and I wanted it. I didn’t want to seem greedy or take it from her so I never asked about it.

On my thirty-third birthday, my sister said she had a special gift for me, and I thought, Good, the ring. She handed me a beautifully wrapped box that was too big and too heavy to be the ring. I was a little sad. As I took the paper off the box I saw the words “Marie’s Homemade Candies.” Marie’s is the best melt-in-your-mouth candy I have ever tasted. I didn’t get it too often because it was very expensive and I couldn’t afford it. I cried when I opened the box and there before my eyes were three pounds of Marie’s “made especially for me” nonpareils.

Wow, what a gift! I popped one (okay, three) into my mouth. Everyone was joking about how I should be like Dad and not share them as they each took a couple. When the box was handed back to me I saw a glitter and shook the box. There, peeking out of all those nonpareils, was the ring.

For the first time in my life I was speechless, partly because I had a mouth full of that delicious candy and partly because I was overtaken by emotion. I was thrilled to get the ring, but the gift of nonpareils stirred my emotions like nothing else could have. Who would ever think that chocolate could mean so much? For me the gift of chocolate nonpareils was truly the gift of love.

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Posts: 1361 · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:49 am

Awww thats a lovely story,shows you that its the small things in life that are the sweetest and that they mean the most.....Actually brings back memories about my grandad for some reason.

Tamara :o)

Posts: 2468 · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:17 pm

Beautiful story. Thank you.