Ice Cream Floats

Our little family spent the day together yesterday, which included a trip to the park and drinks from Sonic. I ordered a root beer float and as soon as I took the first sip from my straw, I was transported to another time and immediately mentioned it to Jer. My mom used to make us root beer and coke floats when we were little and the fizzy taste of the soft drink with the vanilla ice cream will apparently forever represent childhood to me. I could see it perfectly in my minds eye...my mother looming above me with her dark hair spilling around her shoulders while she got out the tall green glasses that she always made them in. They were long and fat at the top and were comprised of squares of translucent green glass. I can see her standing at the island in our kitchen and scooping out two scoops of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla into the glasses and then pouring the coke over the whole thing. She followed it with a striped bendy straw and would hand it over to me while I perched at the kitchen counter. She always made it just right without too much ice cream. It tasted just like summer and it still does. With one sip of that drink yesterday, I could feel the breeze running over our patio and see the bright blue and white swing set in the yard beyond. I could feel pink cheeks and bare feet and saw my mom making that float for me like it happened moments ago.

The first thought that popped into my mind, which I shared with Jer as we drove together, was that I wonder what Colin is going to remember about his childhood. I am sure that it never crossed my mother's mind as she scooped up endless coke floats for me that it would be a favorite memory. She was just being my mama. Little did she know that at 32 years old, I can't taste a float without thinking of her. Will it be the small scoops of ice cream that I serve him in the fat little cones while he sits at the bar? Maybe the hours we spend in the driveway with our lawn chairs or the trips to the donut shop around the corner. Or maybe something more mundane that he will remember randomly...some tradition that has not even started yet. I don't know, but I hope that whatever it is, it brings him as much happiness as an ice cream float on a warm day brings me.

Thank you, Mama. :-)