Sampler. Sampler.

Having Grandparents who were from the U.S., we grew up with imported chocolates around the house. And back then, imported chocolates weren't that easy to buy. Unlike today when there's imported chocolate in every corner store, way back in our day (Whew! This makes me feel so old!) the only places you could get Crunch, Hershey's and M&Ms were PX stores and high end groceries. (Memories of Hyacinth and Orobelle are starting to flood back. I think only my siblings and I can relate to what these two stores are.)

One of the chocolates that I truly waited for and enjoyed were the sampler boxes. Occasionally, Lolo Doring and Lola Pining would send us chocolate sampler boxes such as See's and Whitman's sampler. These were an assortment of chocolates, usually filled, and all mixed up in a box. Inside the box, you'd find chocolates that were good, (chocolate truffle, caramel), bad (bittersweet chocolate, rum filled chocolate), and the ugly. (coconut. But I really like coconut chocolate, so this was a good thing for me.)

Usually, you don't know which is which in a sampler box. Thus, you have that classic line from Forrest Gump: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you're going to get." So, oftentimes, you take a bite off one, then if you don't like it, you tend to put it back in the box. Or give it to your parents.

Later on, the boxes of chocolates already included catalogues. That way, you can choose which one you'd grab first, and which one you'd stay away from. I remember that as a kid, I just enjoyed reading the catalogue, looking at the photos of the chocolate, and reading the description. This was an early indication that I'd end up in advertising and doing the same thing.

When Mom came home from the U.S. last month, I asked her if she could bring a See's Sampler box. It's been a while since I had See's, and I had a craving for it.

Unfortunately, the See's stores in the nearby mall and airport were apparently closed. So, I just asked her to bring home a box of Whitman's Sampler, which she easily purchased at the nearby WalMart.



It's still the same box that I remember as a child. It has the same catalogue that I remember as a child.

And while I popped the cherry cordial chocolate in my mouth, I was immediately transported back to my childhood.