Ode to Peanut Butter

If there is one thing I could eat everyday for the rest of my life, it would be peanut butter. See, I have always liked the stuff. But something happened my freshman year of college that would change my pallate forever (or at least a few years).

Back in February 2003 my ward had an ice skating activity at Seven Peaks in Provo. Since I used to take ice skating lessons I figured I would do great. Well, my first time around the ice we were doing a whip and I was on the end. I got whipped and that was the last thing I remember. I came around about 45 minutes later in the nurses station. I guess I had been up walking around and talking to people, but I don't remember a thing I said or did. I guess I also kept talking about how hot the guy helping me was. Whoops.

Anyway, I went to the hospital and found out that I had a concussion (no surprise). About a week later everything I ate tasted weird. Pretty much everything I ate tasted the same and it was a VERY gross taste. When food was cooking it also smelled like this weird taste and made me nauseous. Everything from rice to chicken Parmesan to cookies and french fries tasted the same. And very very gross. The only things I could really eat and taste were things that had a very distinct taste like pickles, oranges, and cherry fruit snacks.

I thought I was going crazy so I went to a neurologist to make sure everything was ok. He told me that this can happen when you get a concussion. You can damage your olfactory nerve which is where you get your smell/taste. He told me that I had a 60% chance of not getting better (thanks for the odds doc).

The worst part about this was that I could no longer eat anything I used to like! The hardest thing for me to not be able to eat was chocolate and peanut butter. I went 2 years without eating chocolate. I tried it every now and then but it still tasted gross to me. Gradually my normal sense of taste came back and I was able to eat rice, french fries, pasta, bread, jelly, cookies (all the stuff that made me gag before), but I still couldn't eat chocolate or peanut butter.

Finally after 2 years I tried chocolate one night and it tasted good again! I have never been so excited to eat chocolate in my life! About a year after Brent and I were married I decided I would try peanut butter. I occasionally sniffed the jar to see if it smelled like it used to, but it never did. Still gross. But one day I decided to try it and BAM! my peanut butter taster was back!!

Now it's another couple years later and I will never take peanut butter for granted again. I eat it every day (whether it be on a waffle or in M&M's and Reeses cups) and I will continue to do so for the rest of my life. I LOVE YOU PEANUT BUTTER!!!!!!!!!!