I hated salt and vinegar chips as a kid.
I never understood why someone would hate their own tastebuds so much as to want to obliterate them with such a strong flavor. Give me some plain ruffles or a bag of Snyder’s honey bbq any day. But I preferred to keep the chemical cleaner taste out of my mouth.
But, time is a funny thing. And getting older brings all sorts of surprises.
Salt and vinegar chips are my favorite now.
I don’t think too many of us are born loving coffee. Or a good bourbon. Or blue cheese. It’s almost like you have to fight through the taste for a while before your tongue can catch up to the flavor.
There are things I crave as a 40 year old man that would have destroyed a younger version of me:
Honest feedback.
Tough accountability.
Ten minutes alone with my own thoughts.
A hard conversation I’ve been putting off.
Being proven wrong.
The exhaustion after a hard day’s work.
Being told no.
Putting myself out there to try something new.
Reading a book.
Recovering from failure.
Laughing at myself.
Respecting someone else’s boundaries.
Admitting I don’t know.
Learning from my mistakes.
Sometimes, the older you get, the more you realize an acquired taste is often one of the best ones.