We have this little issue with ice cream in our family.  It goes way back.  Way back in my ancestral tribe.  Maybe it’s something that goes way back for a lot of us, those first memories of eating ice cream, pure, unadulterated joy….until, of course, we became adults (or so we think) and we learned about calories and fat and all the fun sucking adult knowledge we are all way too heavily burdened with, and then it became more of a secret indulgence.  Whatever, I still say eating ice cream is a sincere act of loving one’s self, you can quote me on that. I’ve watched pretty much all the adults in my life, from my earliest memories which include now, acknowledge and continue their love affair with ice cream.

My dad was a supreme ice cream eater.  Coffee, was his hands down favorite, but mix it with any sort of chocolate product, as in “mud pie” ice cream, and he was surely blasted to a certain place in heaven followed by a long tumble to the nether regions of his digestive system, countered also by maybe a long run to balance it all out.  Hah.  Yes, his love ran that deep for all things “Yum”, but ice cream was a profound attachment.  My mother too!  However she is more of a butter pecan and mint chocolate chip girl, and entirely more sensible.  Thank God.   And so it has been passed down through the genetic code, infused into me at a molecular level, and into every single one of my kids, with a similar passion.

So, we almost always have ice cream in our freezer.  Until recently.  We all have been, in our family, in one way or another, making the transition from being identified with our challenges in this lifetime, to seeing them as such and not letting them define or dictate our inner sense of being.  This has meant lots of growth, both internally and externally for all of us. Jack, the one with the most challenging life situation, he took the fall the deepest, into a full blown ice cream attachment. He simply wanted more. Also,he was in the midst of inner turmoil, the likes of which no child his age should have to endure, but through which he continues to persevere. Persevere enough for me to be confident he will learn the tools, and can access his internal resources to battle the demons of the particular type to which seemed to swarm his mind.  Which, before I go too deep, is why I had to find a lock for the freezer..

We had been seriously going through some ice cream, and I’d tried all the tricks.  We discussed getting into the ice cream and consequences…as in health wise, budget wise, extrapolated out to quality of life, and beyond,  on his terms…but nothing was cracking the surface except for our continual loop of expectations not met, hope slashed….and it was all falling on Jack.  No matter what, he couldn’t stop.  We went long periods without any, (maybe 3 days) as well purchasing some expensive alternatives, such as individual ice cream treats from the convenience store.  I tried kinds of ice cream that he couldn’t possibly ever enjoy…more “mature” flavors such as pistachio almond and various intensities of frozen yogurt, fat free, sugar free, flavor free. Nothing was working.  He’d douse whatever was there with whatever toppings moved him at the time….chocolate syrup, sugar, cinnamon sugar, regular syrup,etc….. the pressure on both sides was too much.   We needed a middle path, a way thru.

We had to buy the freezer lock.  Amazon to the rescue.

It goes without saying, but I’m gonna say it… being able to buy ice cream again has been truly wonderful.  The first day we had the lock on the freezer, I felt a little sad for Jack.  He looked glum.  It wasn’t really his fault.  It wasn’t anyone’s fault. There were many contributing situations all pointing to the freezer lock being the best solution for the time being.

I hope, in time, we won’t need the freezer lock.  Already, Jack seems content with the one serving of ice cream (which equates to about 4) he gets a night.  This is progress, and  I am down with just that.  We won’t always have to lock up ice cream but we kind of have had to learn to use external source to control for what eventually will be an internal job.  The trick is in allowing  the process to flow toward being done on an internal level, as it’s only then that we can  unite fully, with fellow ice cream lovers in mutual enjoyment of ice cream for everyone every day, or most days, for the rest of our moments here on this planet!!

Moving outward, maybe there should be a political party in our country that rallies behind those who love ice cream?  Ice Cream Lovers United…or something like that. Our platform would be simply our love of ice cream I think we all could get behind it and enjoy the support of each other, though maybe it would get divisive between the butter pecan lovers and the cherry vanilla lovers?   Sigh.  Who’s to say?

Well then, time to go.  It’s 12:31pm and it’s ice cream time somewhere, even though it’s not Friday either.