red sour ball

when i was about 9 i was sucking on a red sour ball. i had given my mom a necklace that i had made. i forget what i had made it out of, glass beads or something...
she was so happy to get the necklace that she was hugging and squeezing me really tightly. as she did this, the red sour ball slipped into my throat. i thought that maybe i could swallow hard and make it go down since it was down far enough where i couldn't cough it back up. so i swallowed...then i started choking. i didn't panic at first, i figured it would loosen up and go down. but as the seconds passed i realized that i was really choking. i remember looking at my mom, my brothers and my friends. (we were making the necklaces at my house) then looking out the window thinking that if i was going to die, at least i was with my family and friends. the view out the kitchen window looks out into our backyard. i've always really liked our backyard so i thought, what a nice serene view to be the last thing i see before i die. My life started flashing before my eyes. as it did, i thought, " wow, now i know that your life really DOES flash before you eyes before death". it all seemed very profound at the time, but how much does a 9-year-old really know about life? I wondered if everyone would be sad if i died. then i felt bad because i didn't want to make everyone sad. my mom proceeded to give me what she thought was the heimlich. only i don't think she did it right because all she did was squeeze more air out of me. then she put her hands around my throat, felt where the ball was, and squeezed really hard. out popped the sourball and we all had a good laugh about how scared everyone was for a moment.

they have red sourballs at work. i took one while i was waiting for the receptionist to find my paycheck. so here i am, sucking on a red sourball. and thinking of the last time i tasted one of these. they don't really taste that good. call it childhood trauma...