This is a post I wrote in 2009; I stumbled across it recently, read it and had tears streaming down my face. I’m sharing so you can get another glimpse into the Insanity That Is Suzanne.
It started off as a typical weekend day.
I slept in, then moseyed myself to the kitchen for a cup of coffee.
I checked on the girls and they were being typical as well; one on the couch watching TV, one on the computer watching YouTube.
I made our bed; Coach left a few hours earlier for softball practice.
I went out to the backyard and fiddled with my compost.
I found several ant piles en route and went back and treated them.
I cleaned the guest bathroom.
I sent the girls to their rooms to clean.
I took the dogs out to the driveway to run a bit and get their exercise.
I heard something down the street that sparked a memory. I stopped in my tracks, cocked my head sideways trying to determine if I heard what I thought I heard. It was a familiar sound, but I was not sure it was real.
It was a sound that I had not heard in many years.
My heart started beating fast.
I was getting a weird feeling in my stomach. My hands and my feet started to tingle.
I didn’t feel right. I was about to lose it.
I had to get the girls’ attention. AND NOW.
I couldn’t be bothered with going back into the garage and through the mudroom door into the house to get them.
I needed them NOW.
I started calling for them from the yard. LoLo…..Linds!!!!!
I ran to Lindsay’s bedroom window and started banging, screaming her name. LINDSAY!
The dogs looked at me like I was a crazy. Little did they know, it would get worse.
LINDSAY!!
Linds pulled the blinds back and looked at me like I was a crazy person. Because I was.
I screamed to her through the window:
THE ICE CREAM MAN IS COMING!!!
She pursed her lips and said: You are lying.
I screamed through the window:
No, I’m not, he’s really coming…he is coming down our street!
Get out here NOOWWW!!!
In a flash, she came running out the garage with my wallet in hand.
I suppose she believed me now.
Then I looked at her and remembered her sister had been fooling around with a flute earlier; maybe that was what I was hearing.
Was I overreacting?
Am I really hearing the ice cream truck?
I asked Linds, and she confirmed: Yes, there is a musical vehicle heading this way.
She started jogging down the driveway and then suddenly she put on her brakes and turned back towards the house.
She realized she still had on her Hello Kitty boxer shorts and decided to change.
I almost lost it.
Me: THERE IS NO TIME FOR CHANGING!
She ignored me and ran back into the house.
I just knew she was going to miss this golden opportunity.
It was as if I had injected with a shot of adrenaline; I was crazed.
I started yelling into the house from the garage: Run Run Hurry up Run Linds, HURRY!
By now Lauren heard all the racket, came out and looked at me like I was insane.
Me: Hurry and run down to the street and get an ice cream.
The ice cream man is coming!!
She stared at me with a fearful expression and went back into the house.
Linds came running back out of the house and I could just now see the front of the ice cream VAN coming into view.
Me: run down there before it passes by!
You would have thought the ice cream man was giving away baby dolphins by the way I reacted to his arrival.
Linds ran down the driveway, opened the gate and met the ice cream man in the street.
I had such a huge grin on my face by now, satisfied that we DID THIS, but my blood pressure was still very high.
I ran into the house for the camera, knowing that this may never happen again.
Lindsay came back in with her ice cream and we had a good 15 minute laugh about the whole thing.
I came to my senses and realized what a kook I am and his made me laugh all the more.
We live in a semi-rural area, so I’ve never seen an ice cream truck in our ‘hood. It just doesn’t happen.
They just don’t come around, or if they do, we may be inside and we would never hear them coming.
Later on after the incident Lauren said she thought someone was breaking into the house and I was telling Lindsay to run for her life.
Lindsay told me that the neighbors must think that I am insane; she said I made it sound like someone was chasing her down the street with a knife as I was telling her to Run Run Run.
I explained to the kids that as a child we had the ice cream truck coming by all the time and we could hear it blocks away. We would run from wherever we were playing to our house to find some money to buy said deliciousness.
Of course we could not hear our parents in the next room telling us to do something, but that truck…that truck was music to our ears.
Then it dawned on me. I really did want an ice cream and in all the craziness, I did not get one.
I called Coach and asked him to pick me up a push-up pop on his way home and he did; no questions asked. Geeze, that was the stressless way to get an ice cream in 2009.
When was the last time you bought ice cream from a truck? Did you have the joy of chasing them down as a kid?
Signed, your favorite lunatic.
XOXO
Busy Bee Suz 
Seeing your little girls from 2009 made me want to cry a little. They remind me a lot of my Anna from back in the day. Sigh.
We have an ice cream truck that comes by regularly, but we live in the suburbs. But I grew up in the country and we never had them, so I understand your excitement.
It’s funny the timing of this post. I had orange sherbet (I always say sherbert) last night for the first time in ages, and it reminded me of push up pops.
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It seems like it was yesterday and now: Poof: ADULTS!
I always put the extra R in sherbert too. We’re so Klassy.
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This is hilarious. Was Lauren so frightened that she was denied ice cream? When I was growing up the ice cream truck came to our neighborhood regularly and we maybe got ice cream once. Our folks were the tight budget type. Boo. I admit that the cheap approach carried over and Coach and I rarely got our kids ice cream from a truck . . . thinking I COULD BUY 3 BOXES OF THAT ICE CREAM AT THE STORE for that amount. Of course, my kids have a memory when they threw berries that fell from our tree in the front yard at the ice cream truck until he yelled at them at our old house . . . this is why we moved, KIDDING. Where were there parents though? I visited my rich cousins in Texas when I was in 2nd grade. I went with my grandma to help her babysit for them for 2 weeks one summer. The ice cream truck came every day. He was no dummy. My rich cousins got ice cream EVERY TIME they heard that music from the truck. I came home and shared how lucky our cousins were and my siblings were like OHHH! WOW!!!
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I think Lolo was in shock at my behavior. And why was she home when the Coach went to softball practice? I’m guessing it was one of the many times she was injured.
Rich cousins: they were rich because they got ice cream from the truck. LOL!
Please don’t think I grew up rich….I had to run into the house and search under cushions, the bottom of my Mom’s purse or in her car for some change for that sweet ice cream.
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I do NOT think you were rich. I can envision you digging for coins in the couch and bottom of purse. Our cousins’ wealth was apparent for many reasons and since we rarely got a treat from the ice cream tuck – their nightly expenditures were just more evidence. We were so envious. We used to nudge each other when my dad and his brother were together. My uncle NEVER got worked up about anything – total opposite of our dad. We’d assure each other when plans were foiled or when anything went awry that dad wouldn’t lose his cool because Uncle Calm was there.
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I have very fond memories of the truck coming to our street as a kid. It sold Good Humor treats that were not available at our local Sparkle Market. I loved the blue sky (raspberry flavor?) popsicles.
When my kids were little, we got treats a few times, but they were just the regular stuff you could get at any grocery store, so it was not that thrilling to them. In our current neighborhood, there is no ice cream truck. I think it’s just not a profitable business anymore.
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Blue Sky popsicles. That sounds refreshing.
I’m sure it’s such a liability now too; with food preparation rules and adults interacting with kids. Times have changed.
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Did I chase trucks in my youth? Heck, I left money on the table by the door so I’d never be caught unprepared. But you got that excited and it wasn’t even a Good Humor truck? I would still chase one of those for miles if it meant I could get a toasted almond bar.
😉
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Toasted almond bar? That sounds delicious. I think I always got the push-up pop or the rocket one that had a bubble gumball in the bottom. I loved gum!
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This post had me in stitches. Suz you are hysterical. No ice cream trucks in my town. I thought the ice cream truck was a myth (or an old person memory thing) until I witnessed one while visiting cousins. Omg the *frenzy* was just like you describe! I was pretty young and had no idea why everyone was freaking out. Was someone drowning in the lake? Were we being attacked by yellow jackets? Nope. Just ice cream. My Aunt must have bought me *something* but years later what I remember is the chaos. And also? We had fudgesicles *and* ice cream bars in the deep freeze, so why the panic? 🙂
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So, the Ice Cream Truck Chaos is a universal thing. I’m giggling about your cousins and the chaotic memory that you have.
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Hey, I love a Choco Taco as much as the next guy, but I don’t think I’ve ever insanely chased down an ice cream truck just so I could enjoy one.
I can’t remember the last time I actually bought ice cream from a truck. I don’t think they roll through our neighborhood, either. Or maybe they do, in the middle of the day, when I’m at work. Fat lot of good that does me!
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Ditto what Mark said. I can’t remember the last time I bought ice cream from a truck rolling down the street. I suddenly feel very old.
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So, that is another thumbs down for holding a full-time job: missing the ice cream truck.
*giggle *giggle*
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Oh wow…the last time I had an ice cream from an ice cream truck was when I was a child. I hadn’t thought about them in years. I don’t think Man-Child ever had one – I don’t think they come around anymore. Funny, even before I read this post, I have been craving a Nutty Buddy for some reason.
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Nutty Buddy. That is a blast from the past!
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I do remember those childhood days such fun!
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The good olden days, as they say.
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I don’t think we’ve ever had an ice cream man on our street, I would have reacted the same way!
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Thank goodness I’d have at least one lunatic friend with me.
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