Hershey's Syrup

Last week, I had Hershey's chocolate syrup for the first time in several years. I can't really explain why I hadn't had it in so long, other than the fact that I let Scott pick out the ice cream toppings, and he usually goes with hot fudge and whipped cream. Not that I have anything against hot fudge and whipped cream. They are tasty toppings. But there's something about good ol' Hershey's syrup. I think it's mostly to do with my dad...his favorite part of a meal, much like Scott, was dessert. Some of my favorite mealtime memories are standing in the kitchen, waiting for Dad to scoop out the ice cream either into a cone (always filling the cone with extra ice cream, usually without Mom seeing exactly how much sugar we were getting right before bed) or bowl, and sitting around the table eating it and watching Star Trek or some such.

We had one of our crazy busy weekends this past week. Our Friday plans got postponed due to an unexpected and sudden illness, so we drove up to the Maverick early to see "Reefer Madness" (hilarious show), Saturday Scott's dad and stepmom came over to help with the closet rebuild for the baby's room (it looks awesome) and we went to a party in Long Beach in the evening. Sunday, we went up to my mom's place to help her pack stuff up and clean in preparation for selling her condo, and even though I didn't do any of the heavy lifting or anything, I was still exhausted by the end of the day, and Scott even more so. It was exceptionally hot on Sunday; at least, it felt that way to us, so I suggested having ice cream when we got home, and maybe stopping for fixin's on the way home. We hemmed and hawed and kind of decided that stopping wouldn't be worth it, but as I thought about it, I realized that for whatever reason, I really wanted some Hershey's syrup, so we decided we'd make the stop.

I don't really know if it was a pregnancy craving, or if it was nostalgia, or just that with all the familial turmoil (and everything else) going on I'm really missing my dad, but I had a big bowl of vanilla ice cream with Hershey's syrup on it, and as Scott and I sat and ate ice cream while Star Trek played, I fondly remembered all those nights so many years ago while looking forward to making our own family memories that our daughter will someday look back on with the same melancholy happiness.