Chocolate Moments

We do not remember days. We remember moments. ~Cesare Pavare

I spent this past weekend at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, immersed in a writer’s workshop led by someone I’ve admired from afar for a quarter of a century. Natalie Goldberg is celebrating the 25-year anniversary of her first book, Writing Down the Bones. And I am celebrating an item on my bucket list.

There’s something about spending a weekend in the company of a rollicking room full of writers who believe the sensory experience in looking at puddles is as delicious as wrapping your tongue around the rich raisiny/pruney notes in a piece of Aphrodisia chocolate.

I explored big weather, took a walk in the rain, curled up in an enormous chair with a view of the misty Berkshire Mountains and wrote, and wrote, and wrote. I learned how to cry a little, read a little, breathe a little, stopping only for marvelous meals and, of course, chocolate.

I came prepared. Unlike most airport enthusiasts who get a charge out of people watching, iPhone chats, or the iPad touch, I set out in search of new and interesting chocolates. I’m never disappointed. On this trip I discovered Little Diggers. For only $4.95 I had my very own 3 oz jar of chocolate delight. It even came with a miniature tongue depressor. You know, the kind you get with Dixie Ice Cream Cups. Brilliant.

But the highlight of my weekend was the story Natalie shared about meeting with her very first publisher. “I don’t remember what I had for lunch,” she shared. “But I do remember what I had for dessert: a big round ball of ice cream rolled in toasted coconut, topped with chocolate sauce.”

I dipped into my little jar of chocolate wonder and smiled.

What’s on YOUR bucket list?