I thought I was addicted to chocolate. I sure to love it, but I'm not addicted. Take it away and I do fine. Put it near me and I eat it. Cokes are different. The orginal Cokes were apparently laced with a little cocaine. Since the formula is secret, I'm not totally convinced that's not still true. All around me are people who openly admit being addicted to Cokes or Diet Cokes, even some real health nuts. I know I can only go so long and I start looking for coins and the nearest machine or drive thru.

As I punched the buttons on one of the Coke machines in my company's break room a few minutes ago, an old memory surfaced. I remembered when being inducted into the Army whether or not there would be Cokes, or more specifically at that time, Dr. Peppers. When I got to Basic Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, I was delighted to see soft drink machines under small pavilions in front of our barracks. They contained a variety of brands and were open to us after each day's drilling. Something was unique about type of machine--it's speed. You could drop coins in the slot and immediately a drink would appear in the bottom dispenser. The speed was so unusual, several of us found ourselves trying to beat the machine by getting our hand from the coin slot to the dispenser before the drink arrived. You couldn't do it. Funny what memories stick with you through the years, isn't it?