Thoughts About Equal

When Mike and I first met, we would go out for coffee at Papa Hayden's on 23rd near where I lived on 19th and Hoyt. When the coffee arrived, I would ask for artificial sweetener, "Do you have any fake sugar?"

Invariably the wait staff would bring out a little tub filled with blue packets of Equal. My name at the time was Beverly Ann Equall, pronounced "Ek wall". Mike was so fascinated with me that he would pull out his pen and add an "L" to all the little blue packets in the tub.

I've noticed that the little tubs have changed. No longer do they have Equal, but Splenda. Today, I read the following headline in the New York Times, Maker of Equal Sweetener Files for Bankruptcy.

Merisant Worldwide, the maker of low-calorie tabletop sweetener Equal said "market share had declined in recent years amid competition from Splenda and other sweeteners."

After 16 years, Mike says, "I'm still crazy about you, Babe!" Some things never change!