It was the summer of '92

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I love eating things that I'm not supposed to eat. Growing up I had a very strict diet, maybe that's why I've ended up going in the opposite direction in the years after by transplant when I really didn't have a specific diet to follow. Growing up the big thing was no added salt and stay away from high salt foods. That meant if I was taken to a fast food joint we would ask for fresh french fries that didn't have salt. I didn't mind that at all, and to this day a lot of times will not ad salt to my food. What I do remember always wanting and never ever being able to have is Coke or Pepsi. I was not aloud to drink these because of the phosphate in them, something that is also in dairy. The only time I remember even being able to have a small sip was when I was on a family vacation driving to Toronto. That was it, all I was able to drink if I wanted pop was Sprite , 7up, and Root Beer. Maybe that is why it tasted so good that 1 sip I had, I was hooked. This was in about 1990, or 1991 and I would have to wait until April 13th 1992 to taste "Pepsi" again.

The summer of 1992, it would be the last year that the summer and winter olympic games were held during the same year, Whitney Houston married Bobby Brown, George Harrison found out that he was actually 1 day older than he thought his entire life, Batman Returns was released to theatres, and Crystal Pepsi made it's debut. What a Glorious summer! You see, what we were told is the reason pepsi is dark is because of the phosphate content of it. If it's not dark it doesn't have phosphate, I could drink Pepsi! I could finally have something other than a lemon lime softdrink. Up until after my transplant that was the best summer ever, Pepsi missed a huge opportunity with the original formula Crystal Pepsi, they should have marketed it direct to Kidney patients, sold it in bulk to hospitals they could have made a killing. Instead a few months later they gimped it out with a citrus flavour. WTF Pepsi?

They gave it to me, and then you just took it right back, well it was good while it lasted. It would end up only being about another 18 months and I had my transplant and was finally able to drink cola again, and it's been my Softdrink of choice since, even now when I probably shouldn't drink it, I just can't help myself.

Owen