Days Gone By

I realize I'm risking sounding a little wacko, but I'm plunging ahead, anyway.

About two weeks ago, I was craving a Cola Icee. You know, like the ones we used to scarf up when we were children. They always had several flavors, but Cola was my favorite. You'd suck until the straw was empty and there was a little hole in your Icee all the way down to the bottom of the cup. Then you'd have to move your straw and repeat this exercise over and over. Eventually, the Icee would be sloshy enough that you could shake the cup and the holes would all fill in. I didn't think my daughter had ever had an Icee and I wanted desperately to introduce her to this childhood activity.

We drove well out of our way to stop at a convenience store, after trying all the ones ON our way. I finally couldn't justify using anymore gas and none of the stores we patronized carried old-fashioned Icee's.

Yesterday, as I was checking out at the Wholesale Club, I realized that I was very thirsty and assumed the children were, also. I glanced up at the little snack bar area and saw a sign,"Icee - $1.09 SMALL, $1.39 MEDIUM, $1.79 LARGE. I gave Deanna a $5 bill and sent her and the boys to get a drink. They met me just as I finished paying and was pushing the buggy towards the door.

"What'd you get?" I asked.

"Icee's, Mom," Deanna nearly shouted at me. I smiled, thrilled that they were all getting to try this treat.

"What flavor?" I asked each child in turn.

"Cola", "Cola", "Cola", they all chimed. Their Icee cups were huge and, just as I reached for mine, I realized I hadn't asked Deanna to get one for me. All three of the children had Cola Icees and there was none for me. Deanna noticed the look on my face.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She's such a kind, sensitive person. I explained that I had forgotten to have her get one for me.

"I'll go back and get in line and get you one," she said. But the line had suddenly gotten long and we needed to get on our way. The kids hadn't yet had lunch and it was almost 2:00.

"No, honey, it'll be okay," I responded. She quickly offered me a sip of hers. Heaven. I had forgotten how perfectly cold a Cola Icee is.

Each child gave me a sip (one very grudgingly, who had to be reminded whose money paid for the Icee's) and that was enough to tide me over. I watched as they each took large slurps and smiled at the many memories those slurps held for me.

We loaded the groceries in the van and headed out of the parking lot. It was quiet except for the sound of sucking when Dane commented,

"Hey, look, everybody, there's a hole in my drink all the way down to the bottom of the cup."