Tuesday, June 07, 2011

frozen serotonin


I've been wondering why ice cream tastes so much better when you eat it with someone else.  Especially the Sugar Daddy. Is it the way he purses his lips and swipes his tongue across the roof of his mouth? He likes to savor. The man loves his sweets. He's not called The Sugar Daddy because of money.

Sometimes when I eat something super delicious it relaxes my body. My shoulders fall and my eyes close.  And when I open them, there are my babies. Mouths open. Squawking.

I love to feed my little birds like this.  They stand on their tippy toes. They smile between each bite.  There are so few ways to make children so happy so fast.  Ice cream is like milky frozen serotonin in a cone.

When I was little, I loved to buy a treat from the ice cream truck.  I don't remember being told no. The answer was always yes.  We'd hear the music in the distance and race for the house to get money from our parents. It's such a happy memory for me.

The ice cream truck that comes around our neighborhood is pretty sketchy.  It looks like it drove up from Tijuana.  The driver may or may not be on the work release program.  I say no. 

And I feel terrible about it. Why can't it be the same as when I was little?  

I began stocking the freezer with various frozen treats in an attempt to alleviate my guilt at withholding happy memories from my kids.  

But last year the Sugar Daddy bought a shave ice machine.  At first I was skeptical of the large cumbersome machine.  But I have been won over. Wholeheartedly.

My kids happy Summer memories might not include the ice cream man, but they will be of their dad, cranking his big green machine. Shaving off happiness.



9 comments:

A Mexican crafter said...

A man runs an old ice cream truck around here that no doubt you'd boycott. Rather than be prejudiced I give him my business and support that he's working hard and he has given me no real reason to reject the sealed frozen treats he sells.

Maybe think a little more before posting such racist judgemental nonsense.

Unknown said...

Dear Mexican Crafter (Anonymous)-

I am sorry if you were offended by my Tijuana comment. I live very close to the boarder and I have an inside knowledge of the criminal activity taking place in that city at this time. The fact of the matter is that it is not a safe place. This has nothing to do with race. I have members of my family that are hispanic. Racism is not a part of my life nor has it ever been.

I choose not to let my children buy edibles from this particular truck based on the fact that I don't know how safe it is. Mother's make safety decisions everyday. It's is not that I am unwilling to help this particular man make a living, I am just unwilling to buy anything from a shirtless person smoking a cigarette.

I think maybe I was wrong to write about this in such a flippant manor. Maybe I shouldn't talk about it at all. But I've always been a fairly open book here on my blog.

I have to wonder if you would have been so up in arms if I had said that the truck looks like it came from Baghdad.

Marianna said...

stay flippant! I love your blog, I love the way to type/write and I didn't find anything racist about it. It most definitely is about being a mother and safety concerns. You rock! :)...and I now I need to go raid my freezer for some frozen serotonin of my own, yum! ;)

Mexican crafter said...

I do get safety concerns- and as a mother you have to do your best. had you said it as you describe in your comment here I would not have taken offense. Shirtless is gross, add in cigarette and it's even worse. Someone legit selling to kids isn't smoking- that's for sure.

Had you made remarks that seemed judgmental and racist about ANY nationality yes, I would have been offended.

As someone who has had her share of discrimination it's a sensitive issue for me- and many others. While I find relief in the truth of your comment, my opinion about your original post remains.

Unknown said...

The real kicker is this ice cream truck guy is white, like me! Ha!

I didn't specify his race simply because I'm not in the habit of doing so. Sketchy is sketchy.

Racist is a strong, hateful word. Don't use it lightly.

Also, I'd like to say that this is the one and only time that I will ever address an anonymous comment. I think she has a point. It is easy to misconstrue what I have written. I will take that into consideration.

But we all know how I feel about anonymous. From now I will simply hit delete.

BusyB said...

I look forward to your blog. Don't hedge about what you feel and think. If we all have to measures our thoughts and words to assure they are politically correct we will lose our spontaneity. That's what I like about you!

vanessa said...

getting to work on talking the hubby into a shave ice machine stat...

the smiths said...

love this post!

i so adored getting ice cream from the ice cream man as a little kid...sadly, our ice cream truck is a little sketchy...and plays the song "whose afraid of the big bad wolf." scary, right??

patty said...

i just L*O*V*E the term "frozen serotonin"... everybody needs more serotonin...yeah for april...

p.s. i too have fond memories of our icream man "spencer" who was so NOT SCARRY...