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a simple pleasure for all. I challenge you to think back as far as you are able.,.. sssstreeeetcccchhhh. What is your earliest memory of ice cream? For me, it is as a little girl standing on the vinyl covered kitchen chair to reach the ice wooden cream churn filled with rock salt. Of course, I wanted to help my Dad with the churning, but am sure that I never made it beyond 30 seconds or so. Our Mommy (we called her Mommy for our entire lives) would mix ingredients for different flavors, mostly vanilla and strawberry. What a treat that was.
As I drove home today, I marveled at how I was getting green lights all of the way and as I was crossing the overpass, it hit me – I must have Dairy Queen! Several times over the past year, myDarlin’ and I would get the urge late in the evening and rush over to grab a cone and a Blizzard. The dining room closes at 9:00, and supposedly the drive through at 10:00pm. More than once we would pull up at 9:45pm and they would already be closed, so we tried our darndest to get there early on those special days we wanted to have a small treat. And we would sit in the parking lot under the red neon Dairy Queen sign, eating ice cream and talking about the simple pleasures of life.
And as we walked down the steps off the plane in the Maui airport, the fresh ocean air filled our senses. Gather the luggage, pick up the rental car and we’re on the road! And what do you think our first stop is? At the Maui Mall for ice cream, or rather what is known as Guri-Guri. Your choices are pineapple or strawberry and one scoop or two. Simple pleasures….
The summer of 1978 was a scorcher, even in the northwest corner of Indiana. And there were many times that this pregnant girl and her hubby found themselves at Dairy Queen for the BOGO banana splits. I would eat mine quickly and go for his next! Fair warning, you better eat your ice cream quickly around me!
A hot Georgia summer evening finds two of our grandsons and me at Dairy Queen (yes, there are other ice cream shoppes, but there’s just something about DQ) eating ice cream cones that are melting quicker than once can twirl the cone on your tongue. Yes, it was a hot, sticky mess – but the boys were oh so happy and the photo ops were great.
A summers night a few years ago finds us pulling up to Dairy Queen with our son who is staying for a few weeks during the summer. As we approach the entry, we find the doors locked with a sign that says ‘Drive Thru Only’. OK, so we could get in the car and drive around, but decided to take a different approach. So myDarlin’ and our son walked up to order at the Drive Thru, and then walked around to the pick up window all the while acting as if they were in a car. Priceless! I wish I would have taken a photo of the look on the associate’s face! What a fun memory.
And so I drove through the drive thru tonight, ordered a small ice cream on this cool evening, and parked the car under the sign. I am grateful for the memories of simple pleasures flooding my being as I close my eyes under the big red swirl of the neon Dairy Queen sign. The ice cream drips down the side of the cone onto my hand and I laugh as I can hear myDarlin’ Robert Kenui Pope ask me ‘Are you gonna finish that?’
He will be our peace – Micah 5:5
#KeepLookingUp #SimplePleasures
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