Why I love ice cream

"Sammy's Soft Serve," our neighborhood ice cream shop opened today. This is an event equal to a national holiday in our home. We all walked over after supper to enjoy the first soft serve of the season.

Due to eczema when I was a little girl, I wasn't able to have ice cream. My mother used to make a frozen concoction using evaporated milk (the only milk the doctor would allow me to drink) - I assure you it was not the same. One day when I was eight years old, my parents decided I could try a little to see if there would be any negative ramifications. After daily mass one evening, we drove to the soft serve shop at the end of the street where the church was located. I was able to have a small vanilla dish. It was love at first bite! Thank goodness, my skin didn't break out, and this was able to be a regular treat in my life.

Ever since, summertime has meant regular trips to the ice cream shop. Money was always tight when I was growing up, but somehow my father always found the money for that little indulgence. When I was older and my father worked two jobs, we were no longer able to go to evening mass. My mother and I would often walk to the ice cream shop near our house in the evening. Even today, when I go to my parents' house with the boys, our outing often takes us out for ice cream.

I was so thrilled when we moved to our new home last year to discover we were within walking distance (even for little legs) of "Sammy's." For me, those trips to the ice cream shop were one of the best parts of my childhood, and I am continuing the tradition with my own boys. Hopefully, they will remember it with as much fondness.