Going the Distance ... for Ice Cream

How far is too far to drive for an ice cream cone? Today the boys and I drove 60 miles round trip to indulge.

Understand that we live in a fairly populated area. It's not like we're in the boonies. In fact, within a 10-minute walk I have an Oberweis Dairy and an open-only-in-season Dairy Queen (they're the best kind of DQ, don't you agree?). We can walk to several restaurants that serve ice cream, not to mention at least three grocery stores at which I could buy any kind of ice cream or ice cream treat. All are a short jaunt with me pushing my two youngest in my BOB and the oldest on his bike.

But today we embarked on a field trip. I didn't tell the boys what we were doing or where we were going. I made them lunches that we ate in the car and hit the road late morning.

We didn't just drive 45 minutes south from Park Ridge; we time traveled. As easy as driving down the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways, we traveled 30 miles back to yesterday. Back to pretty much any day between 1970 and 1986. Back to summer. Back to carefree, not to mention careless. To family bike rides. To block parties. To neighbors knowing neighbors. To 'be back before dark' being the only rule that needed to be spoken. To playing with Barbies but not knowing, much less caring, about the politics of Barbie. To hanging with Cathy, Mary, Genevieve, Molly, Jane, Lenore, Colleen, Sheila. To crushes on boys. Skinned knees. Dreams. Chipped teeth. First kisses.

Yes, I took my boys home, even though what I called home for 18 years is occupied only by ghosts and memories for me. Honestly, I've never really wanted to return, even when my parents were alive. I really like my life where it is now; I really love my family as it is now. But something has shifted of late, and I'm ok with visiting the ghosts and sharing the memories.

Which is why I put on our "Fun To Do This Summer" list a trip to the Original Rainbow Cone. http://www.rainbowcone.com/ And the trip was worth every carbon footprint we made driving my big ol' SUV down there. A quick drive down Hamilton Avenue to view the old funeral home-turned-library and the house that holds memories for many more people than the five who resided there -- off and on -- for nearly 40 years was enough to complete my journey down Memory Lane. For now.

I might crave another Rainbow Cone before the season's over.