Tears of the Sunkist

My love affair with Sunkist Lemonade has hit a snag.

Let me start at the beginning. You will probably recall how I fell head over heels for Lift during my trip to New Zealand and Australia in 2000. Sunkist Lemonade is the only true American counterpart to Lift I've ever seen, but finding it in the US has proven nearly impossible over the years. Only once did I ever see it "in the wild," at a gas station in Wisconsin (but one had exploded and all the cans were sticky, so I didn't get any); the rest I've had only because Drew brought it back from Minnesota. Until this past weekend, when I quite by chance discovered they now stock Sunkist Lemonade at at least one Jewel in Chicago. Ridiculously excited, I bought two fridge packs (about all I could carry at the time or I might well have gotten more). Yes, I've been drinking basically no soda lately, but I figured I could make a minor exception.

Tonight I had a late dinner (9:15ish) and had a can with it. Then, because I was really enjoying it, I had a second can a little later, maybe around 10 or 10:30. Then I went to bed about 12:30 and couldn't fall asleep, which seemed odd because when I left work at 7 pm, I was so tired my eyes were starting to water.

And then I remembered - Sunkist Lemonade, just like regular Sunkist Orange, contains caffeine. A quick check of the can confirmed this. And now it's 3:15 in the morning, I have to get up in (ideally) less than five hours, and I have yet to be able to fall asleep.

Bear in mind not only that I wouldn't have had Sunkist Lemonade so late in the day if I'd remembered it contained caffeine, but until Sunday when I bought the soda and drank three cans in one three-hour span (yes, I know), I had had nothing containing caffeine, to my knowledge, in months. No wonder my stomach acid seemed worse today.

Anyway, this blows. I'll finish the cans I have - which is like 18 more - and then I may have to swear off my favorite soda of all-time. Yes, it will be better for me, but it will also be less fun.