Summertime Early-Evening Ice Cream.

Do you remember when you were a kid when your parents took you for ice cream on an early summer evening? If not, you really missed out. I remember it being around dusk but still very warm outside, and we headed to the giant farm in the next town over that happened to have an ice cream stand open all summer long. We could hear the crickets in the forest behind us as we sat on the benches and had a treat; quite a memory was created by those summer evenings. Well, I just had it again…

Even though it is not summer, I live 2,000 miles away from where I grew up, and I am 36 years old, that same feeling was repeated last night when my wife and I went out for ice cream. It was around 7:30pm on a “school night”, it was warm enough to just be wearing a t-shirt, and the sun was just starting to set. Sure, it wasn’t at some local dairy farm – in fact, it was at a Baskin-Robbins of all places. But nonetheless, it was ice cream just like I used to have during the summer. We sat on the bench outside and watched the teenagers pull up and flirt with each other, we listened to the sound of the birds flying back to their nests, and we watched the gorgeous southwestern sun go down out over the mesa. Ah, the slow lane of life…Sometimes, it’s the really simple things that can bring the most joy, don’t you think? Not a care in the world, just hanging out with my favorite person, and letting some time pass as we enjoyed our cups of ice cream. Life is good.

If you haven’t before or haven’t yet this season, be sure to get some of that summertime early evening ice cream. I promise you it will be worth the trip. And if you do already, then congrats – you already know that feeling.