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Truck Stop Fudge
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Posted by: laborat
Things to think about while I try to figure out what that merchant in the Pandemonium Fortress is writing in the air:
For years now, our family has a tradition of meeting things that change with the phrase, "Truck Stop Fudge". It is a personal and impressionistic thingy that has, at least for my family, world wide implications. I tell the story here, in the hopes that when you come across something you thought was still there, and wasn't,
you could just say, "Truck Stop Fudge" and get on with your life.
First a little background. When I was younger, change seemed to be what I wanted more than anything else in the world. I wanted the world to change. i.e. quit starting wars run by politicians, quit busting people for smoking pot and having long hair. I wanted my age to change so I could start driving. I wanted more than just a radio and three channels on the black and white TV.
As I grew older though not wiser, I started to see that I was part of the largest social and technological change in the known history of the world. Barriers were breaking down in every known area of my existance. Girls were burning bras and pursuing men just as vigorously as men were pursuing girls. Every day seemed to be Sadie Hawkins day. 45s and 78s were replaced by Albums who were then replaced by cassettes, and eventually replaced altogether by CDs. Computers came out of the basements of universities and labs and could be found on desktops around the globe. Change. too numerous to mention. but Change none the less. Anybody who says things haven't changed is dead and doesn't know it.
I started to grow suspicious of change. It seemed to me that often change came at a price we didn't always know about at the time of change. 3 mile island, and neighborhoods built on chemical dumps come to mind. In my state, we voted lotteries and casinos in because the politicians said they were going to have the taxes all go to education. boy, were we suckers. Somewhere along the line, real buttermilk disappeared altogether, and along with real milk was replaced by skim and 2% stuff. Real cheese became processed cheese. and you had to start checking your order at McDonalds because they would always leave something out.
We have always had a tendency to look the other way when things change. It's not our affair or none of our business when some mega corp wants to buy up the local fairgrounds to build a mega mall that then for some reason (duh!!!) causes all the downtown businesses to go out of business. Who really cares if some real estate investor buys up all the failing family farms and decided to put in sub-divisions around the city which then becomes the inner city. Cities start dumping their sewage in the rivers and streams, and the fish die, and people complain about the chemical taste of the water.
Sometimes you get blindsided by change and it changes you forever. Such is what happened in our family. Families and tradition go hand in hand and when one or the other gets messed up, the other one goes down hill. I am not saying we are going downhill in our family but we will never be the same.
It all started 20 years ago. A local truck stop on interstate 70 near a weight station starting selling fudge. Not just fudge mind you, but peanut butter fudge, vanilla fudge, with walnuts and almonds, and my personal fave...orange and raspberry fudge.
The family that Fudges together stays together, my mother was wont to say, so every second sunday of the month, after church, we would all get in the car and trek down the interstate to get Fudge. Life was good, the women were handsome, and the children were all intelligent.
One second sunday we went to the Truck Stop and lo and behold, NO FUDGE!!!! It had been replaced by a touristy stand of truck stop hats, and fuzzy dice. Not even a note as to what had happened. We were devastated. My father, bless his memory, decided to recoup our depression by driving another 90 miles to our favorite Cheese Chile Dawg and RootBeer Spot. After 90 miles we get there and it had been replaced too, by a Jack in the Box. My dad got real red in the face and just said, "Truck Stop Fudge" and was silent the whole dreadful trip back home. Since then, "Truck Stop Fudge" is used whenever we come across a change in our landscape that is sorely missed.
So anyways, just a brief memo on change, and how to handle it. We all have had Changes in our lives, some for the better, others that will be sorely missed. For the ones that are sorely missed, I suggest you say, "Truck Stop Fudge".
Labby
Posted by: Gerbilo
you should take away the guest in his title and keep labo here 
Posted by: Kdr Kane
Laborat sure makes up for his lack of posts. *sigh*
Posted by: tkron
I was beginning to wonder why there were no new articles on the Groups Columns and Articles forum since April 24th, Looks like he moved his posting to here. 
Or, knowing Labby, he just couldn't figure out how to get to that forum on his new computer LoL 
Posted by: laborat
Actually T'kron,
I am still writing for the Wargs too, but am just starting to get back into it again. Laggster asked me to write here too, so I have been. I might wait till ChaosAD to write over there, but who knows, I might just write something up later. I can find my way over there though, its getting out of there that is tough.
labby
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