Ice cream makes people happy. Have you had a bad day? Here, have some ice cream. Do you feel like a few minutes out of the house on a summer evening? Go out for ice cream. Do you have a small victory to celebrate? Eat ice cream.
I am a life long ice cream lover. When I was a kid, my parents or my grandma would walk my little brother and I to the seasonal soft serve ice cream place down the street. We’d look forward to it opening each spring and would be sad in the fall when it closed for the season. To this day I still marvel at the perfect symmetrical curves of the soft serve ice cream in a cone. One of two things would always happen during my childhood walks to get ice cream. My brother would either drop his and I’d secretly snicker to myself or my father would pull a “let me clean that up for you” maneuver if the ice cream cone melted faster than my brother could eat it.
Ice cream is year round for me. My husband and I have a variety of it in our freezer. Who cares if it’s thirty below zero outside and snowing, I’ll be in the house in my robe and slippers eating ice cream.
In years past, the hospital that I’ve spent my career at used to hold “Ice Cream Socials” a few times a year. Chocolate, strawberry or vanilla ice cream with all the sundae fixins’s served to you by hospital administration. I’ve seen people skipping in and out of those ice cream socials as if they were children without a care in the world. It was just enough to make you smile and get you through the rest of a long hospital day.
My inspiration for this post is my recent vacation. For a second summer now, my husband, our teenaged son and daughter and I have rented a cabin and a boat on Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. During our vacation week, we’d spend our days on the water with the wind in our hair and our evenings in front of a campfire. Each late afternoon when we should be thinking about dinner, we’d hit the local ice cream joint called “The Lakeside Creamery”. Sure one could drive there but it’s more fun to go by boat. Once the boat is secured, step out and steady your feet on the wobbly square shaped inflatable dock. Now walk up the four flights of steep wooden steps to get that ice cream. The smell of waffle cones will taunt you as soon as you begin to climb the steps reassuring you that the shortness of breath you’ll have after walking up the steps will be worth it. Once you get in the door you’ll stand in line for a few minutes as the strong wristed staff quickly scoops ice cream into cups or cones but they are efficient and the line moves quickly.
The biggest decision of the day is which delicious flavor to choose. I try to pick flavors I don’t ordinarily eat at home. The day I wrote this I’d chosen a classic; a single of scoop chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone. When they handed me my ice cream cone, I carefully pushed the ice cream into the cone with my tongue to prevent it from breaking the cone and falling off. With each stroke of my tongue, I slowly and purposefully turned the creamy, rich milk chocolate ice cream into a perfect sphere, my mouth watering as I savored every bite. Finally, I’d worked my way down to the sweet crunchy sugar cone, mixed with chocolate ice cream. It only completed the state of euphoria this ice cream cone had given me. Once the ice cream cone has been completely consumed, a feeling of emptiness occurs. Not to worry though, we’ll return soon.
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