There's No Need to Scream for Ice Cream

I did it - for the sake of this blog I threw myself on the wooden stake of an M & M's Ice Cream Treat. They were everything I thought they would be and more. Festive? Yes - nicely designed package, the ice cream looks just like an M & M (even has the M imprint), and you are informed you will get at least two different colors of treat. The Mars people must have thought we would feel gypped if we got all one color (I know I would) AND I actually expected all to be different. Well, really I didn't give it that much thought, but in retrospect.... And there is a layer of chocolate and a layer of color. I guess it's colored chocolate. Hell, I don't really know what it is, but it's good. This is basically an Eskimo Pie with a thicker and WAY more festive shell. And there are only 5 to a pack, vs. six in a pack of every other treat in the freezer. You go, Forrest Mars! Laugh all the way to the bank! I'll even help you carry your money! I'm just glad to have such a fun treat - a giant M & M made of ice cream on a stick! What could be better?

I was eating one in my car on the way home from the grocery store (I mean they might have melted, I didn't want to lose them!) and I wanted to stick my head out the car window and yell, "Wheeee!"

You know what's better? There are jokes on the sticks! I swear!! I couldn't make these jokes up:

Why didn't Orange do well in sales? He's afraid of cold calls.

What is Orange's biggest fear? (apparently not cold calls) Being eaten. (surely they could have done better on that one)

But hey - they did it!! I was thrilled!

Let me share another ice cream experience with you. This one occurred in the middle of the Outback in Australia. Now let me tell you - there's a whole lotta nothing in the Outback. When you stop at one of the very few and very far between roadhouses, you're just glad to see some people and something that reminds you of civilization. All these roadhouses are is a cross between a dumpy roadside diner and a bar - they are not fancy. And there's no need or way for them to be - they are in the middle of the Outback!!

I was with a tour group and we stopped at one of these roadhouses. We ordered food and one of our group ordered ice cream. Now I have to tell you this woman and I were enemies from the beginning. She is one of those people who will do anything to get something free. To get extras. To be first. If there were free samples she'd cram as many as possible into her mouth, pockets and any other orifice available. If someone didn't come to dinner, she'd eat her food and ask if she could have theirs too. If there was a line, she'd break in front. The Aussies were a pretty polite bunch and tried to be decent to her, but she was an embarrassment to us. The term Ugly American fit her perfectly.

One of the group asked her how her ice cream was. (Now mind you, none of the food in this place was great - it was a roadhouse in the middle of a desert!) Her response, as she devoured her cone, was "Terrible!" She eats the entire cone. (It obviously wasn't that bad.) As we leave, she goes back to the counter and berates the poor Australian woman about the quality of the ice cream she provided IN THE DESERT! Do you know what she wanted? Oh no, not a refund - ANOTHER ICE CREAM CONE! Which she also ate all of. Too bad it didn't kill her.

Yesterday we had the Lesson of the Peanut, today we have the Lesson of Ice Cream. Be grateful. How lucky are we to have ice cream? See the fun and the charm in things - say "Wheeee!" once in a while. There are some places in the world where they will never have ice cream. We can go into the grocery store on any given day and pick from hundreds of flavors and shapes and brands. We are so lucky! And it's not just about ice cream...think about your health - be grateful for what you have there. If you're reading this, you can see. What a gift that is. If it's being read to you, you can hear - how lucky are you? And guess what - you're alive! Be grateful! Life is all too short. And if you are ever in the desert and are lucky enough to have ice cream, thank the people who gave it to you.