The Wisdom of Ice Cream

The other night, after the surprise of a warm day, my son and I decided we wanted an ice cream cone for dessert after dinner. It never ceases to amaze me the enthusiasm the prospect of an ice cream cone generates in young and old alike. One of my fondest memories of going to the seaside in Oostende, Belgium when I was growing up, was getting an ice cream cone after a long walk on the beach.There were only four flavours at the time : strawberry, vanilla, chocolate and my favorite, pistachio. When you eat ice cream, you have to slow down. And when you don't slow down, you end up with a sticky mess on your fingers, or clothes, or face. The ice cream demands you slow down. It is a wonderful thing. Perhaps that is why children love to get ice cream. They seem to know intuitively that no matter how crazy things may have been up to the point where ice cream was introduced into their day, things were about to get fun and messy and for a nice while, slower. Because ice cream, especially in a cone, gets messy even when you try to pay attention. You have to lick it, slurp it, carefully, strategically, so it does not drop on the ground, so, in other words, you have to slow down. It is a forever funny sight to see an adult walk super slow while eating an ice cream cone, just to make sure the sticky deliciousness does not get the best of them. Young parents, aunts, uncles, grandpa, grandma, all walking cautiously making the human race look rather awkward indeed. It is hard to be in a bad mood eating an ice cream cone. I have seen many a sour puss getting an ice cream cone, and that thing ends up softening the person's frown or cynical eyes. People should have ice cream parties when they don't get along, at home ,at work, at political rallies and meetings. Here, have an ice cream cone, you will feel a lot better, I promise. And you can really go all out with an ice cream cone. You can add whipped cream, and sprinkles in all flavours, and nuts, and candies, and syrups, the list is quite extensive. What you lack in generosity in your character, you can amend by being extravagant with your ice cream cone. Old men and women become children again. I always find it so amusing to see a very distinguished old gentleman or lady, all stiff and serious about themselves, struggle  with a towering ice cream cone full of exotic candies and swirls. It gives me hope for the human race. Children giggle and are totally comfortable with the sticky stuff running all over their faces and hands. Actually, most children seem to prefer it that way. Cool looking teenagers temporarily sacrifice their carefully crafted images to surrender to the guilty pleasure of acting like a giddy five year old, slurping their ice cream delight, heaped full of gummy worms. I think when Congress is in yet another gridlock, they should stop for a mandatory ice cream party. That should move things along a bit more smoothly. Cake and cookies just don't cut it. Too predictable and clean. No, ice cream is where it's at. Ice cream in a cone.