"Cheetos and Freedom"?: About the title

I suppose whoever comes on here will be wondering about the title: "Cheetos and Freedom"? What does that have to do with anything?

Well, I'll tell you.

It had been five weeks since I'd last eaten when I got my first surgery. No clear liquids, barely any water, nothing. I was on pure TPN (total parenteral nutrition - via a PICC line), so I was ecstatic a few days after the first surgery when my surgeon told me I could start eating solid foods. For two weeks, I'd have to take it slow and stick to a low-residue diet...but slowly, I'd be back to eating nearly everything - which I hadn't been able to do in four years!

I couldn't wait, so I began to create a "Food List" of everything I wanted to eat once I was allowed. One thing on that list? Puffy Cheetos. Not regular, crunchy Cheetos. Oh, no. The big, spiral, melt-in-your-mouth Puffy Cheetos.

I woke up craving them the I day I was released from the hospital, and couldn't wait to get home and eat an entire bag of Puffy Cheetos. Lucky for me, I have an amazing mother, who surprised me with my very own bag of Cheetos when I got in the car to finally go home.

I couldn't stop shaking, I was so excited. To be going home, to be healthy, to eat those damn artificially flavored cheese puffs. I was giggling when I opened the bag and began to devour them, at which point my mom asked,

"So, what do they taste like?"

And I just laughed, turned to her, and replied,

"Freedom!"

I rolled down the window, let out a triumphant, "WHOOHOO!" and the rest is history.

So, there you have it. Cheetos and Freedom. Both of which, I must say, are delicious.