There Are Still Peeps

A little more than a year ago, my daughter and I took our first real college exploring trip. A highlight, as it turned out, was the discovery of a store with 75% off Easter candy, including one of my personal favorites, marshmallow Peeps. Despite a certain amount of restraint, we came home with not just notes (some scribbled, some mental) about colleges, but with a bag full of candy (and a Peeps headband!) to boot.

Now, almost a year later, as we wait for the results of the college search that was just beginning then, I am struck by the fact that so much has happened, so many things have changed, but there are still Peeps.

We have managed a college list that has grown and shrunk and grown again, only to shrink before our eyes. But there are still Peeps.

We are older, and maybe wiser, steps closer to some places and miles farther from others. But there are still Peeps.

We have eaten more ice cream and less ice cream, and discovered that more can taste even better after a while of having less. And there are still Peeps.

We have felt defeated and triumphant, and battered and exhilarated, and we still come out swinging. Is it because there are still Peeps?

We have made good choices and not so good ones. And ones we’re not sure how to rate. But there are still Peeps.

We have guessed right sometimes, and not so right others. And, yet, there are still Peeps.

We began on one path and have wandered a lot, and are still not sure of our destination. But there are still Peeps.

Both our little world and the big world look a lot different than they did a year ago. And yet, I walk out into both of those worlds, and at every drug store and discount store and candy store, there are still Peeps.

A lot of things in life change in a year. But just when I think things have changed beyond recognition, and I just can’t handle it, I look around me and realize—thankfully—there are still Peeps.