Memories of Pop

For a few weeks, I couldn’t escape a small mountain of Diet Mt. Dew.

It’s a taste I can’t stand, representing everything bad about diet soda pop. That weird, unnatural sweetness the moment it hits your tongue to that unmistakable punch to the tastebuds at the end, it’s a soda letting you know in no uncertain terms of its diet status. It’s a terrible concoction and anyone who likes it must have some seriously messed up taste buds.

My father enjoyed it. Whenever I came by to visit him, it was something he’d have on the small table next to his bed. Those tall, skinny bottles resem...