While I realize I had been talking and whooping up the ice-cream experience, and letting everyone know how much Kendrie was looking forward to it, I didn’t understand that perhaps I hadn’t explained it properly, until my sister made a comment to me tonight. My sister, her husband, their four boys, my mom, and my dad all drove in from Oklahoma today to join us for Kendrie’s OT celebration. After a chili supper and bowling (our family is nothing if not highbrow!) we headed straight for the Baskin Robbins in town. As we were sitting and eating our ice cream, my sister made the off-hand comment, “I can’t believe Kendrie has gone a year and a half without eating ice cream!”
OK, obviously, that can’t be true. She sprung from *my* loins, after all, and you can tell by looking at the size of those loins that neither me, nor any child of mine, is going a year and a half (shoot, a week and a half!) without eating ice cream. Uh-uh, nope, not gonna happen.
It’s just that dairy products interfered with her nightly chemo meds, so she wasn’t allowed ice cream, milk, or cheese anytime after dinner each night. For a kid who was accustomed to going to bed with a sippy cup of milk when she was diagnosed, that was a jolt. For a kid who was going through chemotherapy treatment with steroids, whose dex cravings usually consisted of string cheese, cheese slices, or mac and cheese (sometimes all together!) it was just plain cruel and unusual punishment. So more correctly, we simply hadn’t been able to go out as a family and have ice cream as an evening treat.
That changed tonight, though! There I was, taking pictures of her eating ice cream like she had never seen the inside of a Baskin Robbins before. Considering our family drove sixteen hours to join us for this monumental ice cream cone, it was fabulous. Considering three of my sister’s kids are lactose-intolerant, it was actually pretty ironic. But they were good sports, and we were so happy to take part, once again, in one of life’s simpler pleasures: "One scoop of chocolate on a cake cone, please." Then, when we got home, despite the fact there was no way Kendrie could still be hungry, she asked for two cheese slices before bed …. just because she *could*, I’m sure. Now, what was that her oncologist said about girls her age gaining weight when they go off treatment? Surely, I can’t imagine what he means!
“Hmmmmm, decisions, decisions. Yep, I think I’ll go with the plain chocolate.”
“Thank you sir, and please don’t assume that lunatic with the camera is my mother. I have no idea who she is or why she is taking photos.”
All our OKC cousins get into the act!
“You know I’m enjoying it when I can’t be bothered to stop and wipe my mouth”
“Ahhhhh, I’ve waited a long time for that creamy, cold taste of delicious dairy delight …. Can we go again tomorrow night?”
Hope you are all having a good night, also.
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