Traumatic Experience

Courtesy of Mustafa Abbassi

So last night I get home from playing 2 hours of hard fought basketball around 11. Took a nice hot shower, changed into some comfy clothes and was about to start relaxing a bit before I went to bed. I was taking out the trash as my wife suggested I have some milk and cookies before bed. "Thats a great idea" I said. "I bought your favorite cookie, chips ahoy" Lobna added, "you just need to go get the milk from upstairs, your mom picked some up for us earlier." (I live in a mother-daughter home with my parents). So I took out the trash and quickly continued upstairs to retrieve the milk in excitement, as if a 9 year old was going to Toys R Us; come to think of it I act like a 9 year old when I go to Toy R Us; They have the coolest Star Wars toys. Anyway, I digress. Upon opening the fridge I saw two half-gallon cartons sitting on the shelf. One with a purple top and one with a red top. The purple top is certainly not for me; 2% stinks. So I grabbed the red top carton and ran downstairs. I handed the carton to my wife and asked her to pour me a cup while I went into the other room to put on a sweater; it was chili in the house.

So on my way to the living room I grabbed my milk and cookies from the kitchen; "efff yeah" I thought as chills began to move down my spine. I settled them onto the coffee table and moved the table at an angled position between my legs so it can sit right underneath my crumb dispensing mouth as I ate. Turned on the TV and switched to ESPN to catch all the highlights as I stepped into heaven for 5 minutes. Sports, milk, and cookies; hard to beat that. Broke the seal of the chips ahoy container as I opened it for the first time. Grabbed that first delicious cookie that stood out over the rest, placed it in the cup of milk and began waving it back and forth in a fanning motion to soak the cookie with as much milk as possible. I slowly began to move the cookie into my mouth, opening it as wide as I can to get a good chunk in. Slammed my mouth down and began chewing forcefully upon that cookie. "WHAT THE %$#!!!!!" My life began to flash before me; What did I do wrong? Why did I deserve this? Did I miss a prayer? Did I disrespect my parents in any way? What was it?! I.... I... I didnt know what was going on. I couldnt breathe. I didnt know what I should do. Something that seemed so perfect began to seem so punishing, torturing, so haram. I wasnt sure what to do. Should I get up, should I spit it out, should I cry? My wife saw me struggling after she heard a loud grunt. "Whats wrong?!!" she said with much worry. I tried to explain to her the pain but all that came out was gibberish. "smmmiiii eeeeeeeeee prrrrrrrrrrrrrgggg." I got up and ran to the kitchen; grabbed the garbage a furiously spit out that cookie. That cookie that represented success, good looks and everything attractive in this world now was the representative for hell fire, the devil, and was a symbol of all things disgusting. My wife and I were franticly thinking what was going on. I returned to the scene of the crime. The milk had to be it, Chips Ahoy never did me dirty like this. Milk on the other hand... So I picked up the glass and took a whiff. I didnt smell rotten but it didnt smell like milk. I was so confused. Milk that doesnt smell like milk. What the hell is going on. Was this the beginning of the end for me? Is the angel of death coming? Am I already dead? No no, thats not it. Snap out of it. Go check the carton, see what is going on here Mus. The signs are all there, in the fridge.

We ran to the kitchen like Sherlock and Watson, opened the fridge and....... HAAAAAA? WHAAAAA? They make that?!

(Click on link if you can't see the picture)

It took me two hours of chunking down Tropicana fruit punch and water to get rid of that disgusting taste. Freakin idiots, who puts yogurt drink into a classic milk carton. Thats like packaging magnesium citrate in a Poland Spring bottle. Sorry to bother you guys, but I was really traumatized by this experience and I had to share it. Milk and cookies were my not-guilty pleasure; my place of comfort that made me feel that everything was okay and there was nothing to worry about. But alas that is no more. Im not sure when I will return to milk and cookies. It may take some time to recover from this but God willing I will, one day. I will appreciate your prayers please; I need it in this difficult time.