When I was a young kid, like most any kid, I hated vegetables. I wanted junk food, meat, and sweets. Every weekend, I would spend at my aunt’s house. I would enjoy going there to spend time with my cousins, Bobby and Kimmy. My cousin Bobby who was older than me, I looked up to him as a big brother, as I was the oldest and had no big brother. One day after having fun, we came inside to an empty house, really hungry for lunch. Bobby, looking for something to eat, decided upon vegetable soup. Needless to say, I told him no way, I ain’t eating no veggie soup. But he was so enthusiastic for the soup, all hyped up over it. He’d pour a ton of black pepper in it, yelling in a guttural, deep voice, “vegetable soup!!” as if it were the greatest thing Planet Earth has ever seen.

Somehow his enthusiasm wore off on me; suddenly my interest was peaked. I never had vegetable soup, so maybe there was something to it I was missing? After all, Bobby was so excited about it, so surely it must be fantastic. When it was finished cooking in the pot, he poured both of us a bowl. He dug into it like he never ate food before and was starving to death. I plunged in, a spoon slid in my mouth.

Wait a second, this stuff is actually pretty good, especially with all the pepper in it. So we both dug into the soup with gusto, Bobby grinning goofily, vegetables oozing out of his mouth, barely able to contain his glee.

To this day I still eat vegetable soup with fervor, all because of my cousin, Bobby. I don’t know if he did it to convince me to eat my veggies as a kid, or if he really loved vegetable soup that much, but whatever the case, it worked for me. I mean, it’s vegetable soup!!!!!!