Thursday, March 28, 2024
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GSC season

by ELENA JOHNSON/Coeur Voice contributor
| April 24, 2021 1:00 AM

I am a person of pleasures simple and few.

One of those simple few goes well with coffee. All forms of it. We don’t disparage decaf in this household. How else would you enjoy an evening cuppa with a thrill of Thin Mints, without losing sleep?

And those Thin Mints probably constitute pleasures no. two through five, because you can never have just one.

I know there are other varieties, and those other cookies must be fabulous, but I never branch out from my favorites at restaurants – ‘cause who wants to know they missed their favorite burrito or sushi roll today, and it was all their fault? – so no delightful Do-Si-Do or Tagalong is gonna wrench me away from minty chocolatey goodness and a glass of Cab sauv (trust me, you’re welcome).

The GSC (Girl Scout cookie) phenomenon is sort of a strange one, a little like Japan’s tradition of a Kentucky Fried Chicken Christmas dinner. It’s odd already when cultural traditions rely on purchasing products, but it feels weirder when cultural participation relies on a single brand or organization – such as when we all go nuts over the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Yet when it comes to GSC season, it feels as wholesome and natural as blowing out the birthday candles.

I’m not complaining. The Girl Scouts would have my support without cookies of legendary proportions. But the fact that there are billboards announcing the season and that many of us have a lifetime of annual migration to the exterior of the grocery store for the most anticipated pickup of the year has to be a pretty quirky holiday-like phenomenon.

Most of us connoisseurs even have strategies for maximizing enjoyment of the bounty. (One box to share, one for immediate consumption, and a third to be tucked away and brought out on a rainy day three months from now, like a second birthday.) You probably spend time discussing your household’s precise order with friends or coworkers, too. You may be a one-box-per-person family, a share-only (generous) couple, or enjoy a blend of selfishness and selfless distribution.

It’s something we can all come together on. We may never agree on how to hoard or share it, but we all make room in the pantry and the belly. Some are even gluten-free. Girl Scout cookies feed one and all.

Strange or not, the mass participation in cookie tasting across the nation makes spring all the sweeter. This time of year, the hills are aflutter with something simple and delicious to celebrate. Even if we have to fight for the last one.

Thank you, Girl Scouts, for your annual service to this country. I hope you receive badges with bald eagles on them for your good work, or at least a free box of cookies.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a new sleeve to crack open.