Another One About Ice Cream

I'm craving ice cream. It's not one of my usual cravings, like pizza or even donuts. Plus I'm cold; it's a cold day. Maybe that's it. Part of it anyway. I tend to like ice cream better when it's cold out. It melts slower. My mom and I used to go to this ice cream stand when we lived in Michigan. They weren't open in the winter but as the summer slipped into fall... She's get butter pecan and I'd get whatever was low fat and low sugar (They always had at least one). We'd stand outside or sometimes sit in the car. The cooler out the better.

I don't know if that's it or not. I think there's something more to it than that. A friend got ice cream at Sonic the other night. Ordered it right in front of me. Sort of. I was on the phone with her. Long story short - She got ice cream; I didn't. And that started it. Better stated, she started it. Ever since then, I've been craving it and it's only getting worse.

I tried to kill it last night. I left work late, super late. In the old days, I might have gone home and had a drink. Nope, not last night. I had to stop at the store for dog food and since the frozen food section is close to the pet section... Ice cream. That would be the perfect way to end a superlatively long day. I threw a bag of dog food over my shoulder and quickly walked a couple aisle down to the freezer cases. Horror. There was something else in the spot where my favorite ice cream used to be. Maybe they moved it, I thought. I perused the rest of the ice cream section. Once. Twice. Three times. Lots of other kinds but no Arctic Zero.

I like Arctic Zero because it's not like regular ice cream. A whole pint is just 150 calories. Plus it's high in protein and fiber instead of fat and sugar. Sure, it's not really ice cream but it's damn close enough. There is no way to rationalize a pint of full fat/full sugar ice cream (all 1000 calories of it) on a day that doesn't include a 13 mile run. And since yesterday (and incidentally today) was an off day, no Arctic Zero meant no ice cream. I had vanilla Greek yogurt instead.

Needless to say, I still haven't shaken my craving.

Tonight, I got off work early. I'm dog sitting for some friends. In their freezer, there's always ice cream. I'm a guest, though, and it's an off day so I couldn't go nuts. That said, I was able to justify a petite Hagen-Daz ice cream bar. It was good. You seriously can't go wrong with chocolate covered vanilla ice cream on a stick. Ever. It was enough. I guess. For now. Tonight.

But not enough to stop the craving.

I wonder what will it. Stop the craving, I mean. A small taste here, a little bite there won't do it. Thirteen mile run or not, I'm going to have to go all-in. Soon. Very soon. Sonic. Dairy Queen. Creamistry. Lick. Menchie's even might do it. It'll have to be a large, so large that the concomitant dizziness from the sugar buzz reminds me why I seldom eat ice cream.

Because if I'm going in-in, I've gotta be all-in. Anything less is a tease, that one candle left on your birthday cake you couldn't blow out with one breath. And really if you're going to do it, you need to do it. Stop brushing up against it, leaning over it. Step into it and swing.

Wow. Talk about mixed metaphors. Like putting Oreos and peanut butter cups in your Sonic Blast. It almost makes sense. Ok, sort of. A little overkill maybe? Why can't you just settle on one and go with it? But then you taste it and each bite (because after that first one, you're going to want another) is like a peanut butter Oreo. A. Peanut. Butter. Oreo. In vanilla ice cream. With whipped cream. And you wonder how you ever thought one would be enough. Peanut butter or Oreos. Who were you kidding? You gotta mix it up - the ice cream and the metaphors, the peanut butter and the Oreos.

Because - let's be honest - it can never be about just one thing. Take this little piece of writing for example. Is it about ice cream or something else? Maybe it's a metaphor. Maybe it's not. Perhaps it's both. Only the reader can know.

There is something I do know - Whatever it is, I'm still craving it.