About Me
My love of soda started when I was young. During the hot summer days, I would rollerblade or ride my bike to the nearest convenience store. Purchase a big drink and a treat, and relax. All for less than $2.
Also, I enjoyed playing basketball during the summer. After a few games, the energy would be really low, and the level of play had a direct negative correlation to the temperature and duration. However, someone would yell out, “losers buy big drinks,” and all of a sudden guys would be diving for loose balls, powering up to get rebounds, and throwing down reverse dunks attempting reverse layups.
Big drinks can serve as: a reward, a kind gesture, a remedy for an illness, and a bonding opportunity. After my baseball games in high school, my friends and I would stop off and get big drinks. We would take turns buying for everyone else, which is funny looking back at it (because over time the payout was all even). However, if someone had a great game, we’d congratulate them by making sure they didn’t buy the drinks that day.
In college, I knew people would be nose-deep in the books during finals week. I’d make my customary run to get a big drink, and I’d come back with three extras to distribute to others that looked like they could use a refreshing break. Also, if I heard someone in the apartment complex wasn’t feeling well, I’d bring them a big drink in hopes that they could pee the sickness/bug/virus out of them.
When I became a parent, I would share some of my big drink with my kids. My daughter, in an effort to describe what she was drinking, coined the term “bubbles and juice” for the big drink I had just let her sample. Our family has endearingly referred to soda as “bubbles and juice” since.
If you dread traveling internationally because they don’t have free refills or big drinks at the nearest gas station, or if you don’t frequent certain restaurants because they don’t have your drink of choice on tap, or convenience stores increase the big drink price shortly after you move into town, then we are very much alike.
