Bear,
Sometimes I think you are lucky that you don’t need to eat. Because of that, you don’t have to wonder “What’s for Dinner?” And there are other benefits to not needing to eat. But you really are missing a lot of fun, too. Your Woodsy Bear Cousins, worry about what to eat, and if they can get enough. But over all, what they eat is pretty narrow. Fish, berries, honey, a few ants here and there, and perhaps the occasional furry animal that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bears never really worry about what “sounds good”, just “what can I find”.
I have noticed that as I got older, my tastes have changed. Things I loved as a kid, sugar coated cereals,
strawberry flavored milk, gum balls, and Ding-Dongs are things I would not dream of eating now. But also, the reverse is true. I hated brussel sprouts, celery in potato salad, olives, and my mom’s cabbage soup. Now, I love them.
I wonder why that is? Why have my tastes changed as I have gotten older? Have the taste sensors gone awry? Have I lost taste sensing brain cells that tell me, “Brussel Sprouts! Ughh…Danger…Run Away!!!” Or maybe the brain cells are slow on the sensing. They don’t sense dangerous foods like cabbage soup until dessert time hits. No…that can’t be true either, because I still like dessert. Only not quite as sweet.
I think changing tastes are a function of aging. Maybe it is in preparation of more pill swallowing as we get older. Pills don’t taste good. Luckily, I don’t need to take any yet, but I can see that having failing taste buds will help the medicine go down. And maybe they will taste of brussel sprouts. This must be the case, because I see that kid’s medicines come in grape, cherry, and fruity-tutti flavors, and adult’s medicines, well….they only come in the bitter-you-have-no-taste-buds variety.
See, yet another reason, you are lucky to be a Bear!!
