Look at the sweetener array. I paused each time I opened the kitchen cupboard when visiting my parents’ home in Indiana. Confronted with choices before I’d sipped the coffee in my mug…yikes! Confusion. Complications. All I wanted was to get my day started with coffee!

When I asked my mother about it, she confessed: all of the packets had accompanied her home from restaurants where she and her friends dined once/month, quietly placed in her purse. While she preferred Sweet ‘n Low, my father preferred Equal and sometimes guests wanted real Sugar, not artificial sweet. My mother, my  Christian model, was a sweetener thief.

I tried each color – by default, whichever came into grasp. Pre-caffeine, I was neither choosy nor steadfast. There wasn’t much difference in pink or blue, and white was assuredly a poor nutritional choice. Especially when I craved two packets/mug.

My mother’s confession must have shamed her, for in successive visits, there were boxes of Sweet ‘n Low and Equal side by side in the cupboard. This was contrary to the pervasive frugalness of their household, so I again queried my mother.

She reiterated that, while she preferred pink, my father preferred blue. No room for compromise for people married over 50 years? Was this where to draw the line – at sugar substitutes? Advice to all young marrieds: consider your boundaries carefully. Small ones may be more delicious. In some arenas there can be no capitulation.

I made an alternate path: I prefer yellow. But, then I don’t have to compromise to sweeten. My husband, Larry, drinks coffee black. He says that he’s sweet enough – and I agree. I am a good enough wife.

What’s your favorite sweetener color: pink, yellow, green, blue, or white? Sounds like Easter egg colors to me. It’s all good, all Splenda to me.