Anybody NOT Like Ice Cream?

My Quest To Eat 62 Dairy Queen Blizzards

Okay, in all honesty, it didn't start out as a quest. It just "happened". I've always loved ice cream. From the time I was a little kid in St. Louis, Missouri and up until... well, I'll get to that later.

Who can remember on those hot, humid days in the early 1960's, visiting your Grandparents who seemed oh so old but, in fact they were only about 45 years old at the time. Anyway, we would visit on a Friday evening or a Saturday evening, long before any of us had air conditioning. And trust me, in St. Louis during the middle of July and August it could easily be 94 degree, with 95 % humidity. We would all sit in the back yard, the adults in those lawn chairs with the tightly woven nylon strands, and us kids running around waiting for the Lightning Bugs to come out, and periodically taking our turns, turning the crank on the ice cream maker. It seemed like it took forever, but boy was it worth the wait! Nothing could beat Home Made Ice Cream. And of course, everyone got brain-freeze. Sorta became a ritual... somebody always had to eat too fast and freeze their temples. But, I digress.

Flash forward forty years, to the age of 48. From those early childhood days to the age of 48, I ate ice cream like there was no tomorrow. I was a sucker for Butter Pecan. If it wasn't available, plain old Vanilla was just fine.

That summer of 2004, I decided to stop one day at a Dairy Queen, and get a medium Tropical Blizzard, minus the bananas or the pineapple (I don't remember which on came in it). I was only focused on vanilla ice cream, coconut, and the pecans. So, I drive up to the window, place my order, and pull around to the pick-up window, thank the young girl and away I went. Boy, it tasted good. No problem right? Right! The following day, I stopped again for the same blizzard, same size. And off I went. Mmm.... just as good as the last one. I did this every day for a week. And by the eighth day, when they saw my truck, my blizzard was already waiting for me. I only had to pay, and pick it up. Finally, one day the manager asked me if I would like to switch it up and try a different flavor. I thanked her, but declined. Note: I did however request extra coconut and pecans every time. This went on consistently, for 62 days in a row. Some days, I bought one, and would return within a few hours and get another, just like the previous one.

The funny thing is, I gained no extra weight during that time, as my job was semi-physical, and required a lot of walking and lifting. The not-so-funny thing is, I had a heart attack five months later. There's no scientific fact or data that indicates this was a factor, but it probably played a big part in it. Regardless, I now have a stent placed in my main artery in my heart.

Today, at the age of 53, I can relate to what it's like to be an alcoholic. All my life I could never understand how a person could NOT just drink one beer, or one cocktail and say that is all for today, or even for the rest of the week. I just couldn't understand why they got hooked. Well, now I know. Because there isn't a day that goes by that I don't crave a Blizzard with pecans and coconut. And I know if I stop and get one, it's curtains! Just like it was for Jack Lemmon, playing the role as Joe Clay, a hard drinking addict in Days of Wine and Roses.

Gosh, I miss my Blizzards.