Childhood Memories

Some people might tell you that my relationship with food is not only unhealthy but also just dangerous. For my entire life, I have used food like a drug. I love everything about it and it seems to get the worst of me pretty much all day long. Even since I was a little boy, I’ve allowed food to control the memories in my life. McDonald’s has always been a significant part of my childhood growing up in New York City. When I was younger, my mom would take my brother and I every Tuesday to kid’s night. There was, and still is something about McDonalds that really kept me coming back. Maybe it was the clown every Tuesday that turned my favorite animals into balloons or my usual happy meal that always put a smile on my face. Coming up on twelve years old, food, McDonald's especially, had really taken a turn on me when I realized fast food was controlling my life.

Every time I eat McDonald’s, a little piece of my childhood always gets back to me. I think it’s when I take that first bite into one of those soft, tender, and juicy double cheeseburgers that I fall into a hole I won’t be able to dig myself out of. Food was my childhood and without my parents home most of the time, I found all the happiness I needed in one of McDonald’s famous happy meals for $3.74. My favorite meal was the four-piece chicken nuggets, fries (with extra salt) and the Oreo and M&M mcflurry blizzard. Chicken nuggets always reminded me of those rare and special occasion chicken dinners my mom would cook on Sunday every now and than. It’s the chicken’s light crisp that settles my teeth at every bite and the warm processed center of an “all white meat chicken” that has me addicted. My mcflurry was always the best as you typically save the best for last. It reminds me of those summer days in the city with my aunt. Twice a week, my parents would leave me with my aunt Candace who always went out of her way to make my chocolate Sunday with my favorite Oreo bites and M&Ms swirled into a delicious treat. When Candace moved out to Denver Colorado it became more than ice cream to me. Suddenly she was gone and I needed a replacement. Every time I sit down to enjoy my mcflurry, I think about everything she’s done for me for my entire life and all the effort she put in to just make me happy even up to this day.

Since my dad was always working and my mom was always busy with her usual nonsense, I really enjoyed the time we got together once a week. I’ll always remember rushing through the front door, running right to the play place where the ball pit would always be waiting for me. Still today, McDonald’s play place has an effect on me. Every time I just drive by or just stop in for a snack, the famous yellow and red colors fly right before my eyes. It remains today to be just another good memory and one that always brings my family together.

I continued to grow up surrounding myself with McDonald’s and all the other great advantages that fast food has to offer. My entire life, I’ve always seen the beauty in fast food and always appreciated the significance it has in my life. Everyone has the ability to find happiness in just about anything and McDonald’s has done it for me. It’s simply an establishment that opens up another perspective for me to look through. McDonald’s allows me to bring back some of my favorite memories as a child and ones that have certainly made me who I am today.