A Sweet Surprise

I am a fine chocolate connoisseur. I have little shame in plunking down a chunk of change for a good quality chocolate fix. Being born in Austria to chocolate loving parents, I literally cut my teeth on the good stuff, and now the american substitutes just don't satisfy. Growing up, my omi would send large care packages full of european chocolate to satiate our family's collective sweet tooth. Ildefonso, Mozart Kugeln, Zauner Stollen--all were placed in the freezer for safe keeping, and were slowly consumed. (To this day, I like to eat frozen chocolate.) Don't get me wrong, my sophisticated palate doesn't stop me from slumming when necessary. I've been known to eat semi-sweet chocolate chips straight from the bag in a choco-emergency, but given my druthers, I'll take a Milka over a Hershey bar any day of the week.

Mark is well aware of my chocolate preferences and, being the sweet husband he is, will often bring home a Toblerone or Ferrero Rocher to curry favor. So, yesterday morning, when I found an unopened box of Merci chocolates left lovingly on my nightstand, I immediately went in search of Mark to thank him. Mark, however, acted like he had no idea what I was talking about. After a few rounds of me saying, "Come on who else would leave me this," and Mark saying, "The last time I bought a box of Merci was at Christmas," and me saying, "I ate the one you got me for Christmas--this is a new one! Who else would leave me this?" I decided to go and ask the kids.

I was skeptical from the start that the candy could have come from the children. My kids have neither the motivation nor the means to do something like that without Mark's help, and Mark was adamant that he knew nothing. Natalie and Emily, the two next most likely gift givers, also claimed ignorance.

By this point I was getting a little frustrated. I have spent enough time staring at my cupboard shelves late at night hoping some sweet morsel which I might have overlooked the last five times I opened the pantry has magically revealed itself to know that chocolate does not just appear out of thin air, and I was highly doubtful that the candy givers could have been Brandon or Bryce. Why would Mark not just take credit for something that he had obviously done?!

It was Brandon who finally solved the mystery. No, he did not secretly ride his bike to the store in the middle of the night to spend his allowance on a gift for his mother. He just happened to see a small white box under my bed when he was looking for his socks so he pulled it out and put it on my nightstand. The treat was really from Mark after all. It was the one he got me for Christmas. I remembered getting it along with many other yummy treats. I thought that I ate it, but really, it got lost under the bed. Then, nearly 2 months later, just as I was coming to the end of my Christmas candy stash, Brandon found it. It was truly a Valentine's Day miracle.