The Present Cookie

Do you remember the first cookie you ever ate?

No, of course you don't. How about the second cookie?

The third?

How about the seventeenth?

If you're an adult in a developed nation, you've probably eaten hundreds of cookies. Far too many to remember individually. Why don't you go have one now? You're an adult; you're allowed.

Mmm, wonderful cookies.

But that cookie you have in mind can't possibly be as interesting or amazing as the first cookie you ever had. You know why? Because you have it in mind, that's why. Most of the surprise is gone.

Memory is thus a mixed blessing. Can you imagine what it would be like if you could once again experience a cookie for the first time?

I've heard that cannabis tampers with memory, making it hard to recall anything. Maybe that's what causes (or at least contributes to) the so-called “munchies.”

That's my theory, anyway. I could be wrong. I do know, though, that when I'm very much “in the present” my food tastes amazing. Or maybe I'm dragged into the present because I'm an amazing cook.

I'm not sure which one is true. But I'm getting hungry. Where did I put those cookies?