I haven't tried Tab in years, by the teen version of me is mourning

You know that feeling you get when you hear about an aging musician or actor dying? You haven't thought about them for years, but it makes you sad to know that they're gone? That you associate them with your youth?

That's how I felt when the Coca-Cola Co. announced last month that it was discontinuing Tab.

It was kind of like when Charlie Daniels and Lyle Waggoner died this year. My first reaction was, "He was still alive?" My second reaction was, "Bummer."

When I heard Tab was discontinued, my first reaction was "It was still being made?" My second reaction was, "Bummer."

Tab and I have a unique relationship. As a kid I didn't drink much soda (I was too dumb to realize that drinking it fast would make bubbles go up into my nose somehow. I repeatedly made that mistake and swore off soda).

At age 14, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. That was around the same time I learned how to correctly drink soda (I was slow).

When I was initially diagnosed, I was sick, so I spent a week in the hospital. That's when I learned how to give myself shots as the medical experts figured out how much insulin I needed. It was tough: Wild swings in my blood sugar, bad headaches, frequent urination and the requisite middle-of-the-night wakeups to test everything.

The only two highlights were my friend Dana visiting me to watch the baseball All-Star Game and my dad taking me out to play nine holes of golf. The only things I could drink were water and what was then called Sugar Free 7-Up (which later became Diet 7-Up), both out of Styrofoam cups.

I've never embraced Diet 7-Up because it reminds me of bad times.

At 14, there were, as far as I knew, three diet sodas: Sugar Free 7-Up, Fresca and Tab. (Research indicates Diet Rite also existed, but I was blissfully ignorant of that.)

Since I resented Diet 7-Up, my choices were Fresca and Tab and there was no comparison: Citrus-flavored Fresca was OK, but Tab was a cola. It was Diet Coke before Diet Coke existed. For a teenage diabetic, Tab was the only soda worth drinking.

It was my only cool soda.

I drank a fair amount, then other diet sodas emerged (or I became aware of them).

Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi became things.

Knockoff brands (Shasta, Cragmont, etc.) had diet sodas.

Ultimately, I was OK with most diet drinks. Now I drink whatever brand is available (I may be the only living person without an opinion in the Coke vs. Pepsi debate).

I haven't had a Tab for years. I presumed it had been discontinued and replaced by the multiple iterations of Diet Coke. I hadn't thought of Tab for years.

When I saw that Tab was being discontinued, I remembered that Tab existed, then I was sad that it's leaving, despite the fact that I've paid zero dollars to purchase Tab in the past 35 years.

I don't drink Tab.

I wouldn't drink Tab in the coming years if it was still around.

But inside me is a 14-year-old, newly diagnosed diabetic who thinks Tab is pretty special.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.