Daily Herald opinion: When life gets crazy, slow down and enjoy some ice cream
It’s been quite a week – or two.
The last couple weeks have been…eventful. Stressful is another word we’d use.
Let’s recap – record-breaking severe weather, a global computer outage, political upheaval and an assassination attempt. Raise your hand if you need a break from the chaos.
Luckily it’s summer, a season that lends itself to slowing down, relaxing during the midday heat and enjoying the simple things in life.
So that’s what we’re recommending. Appreciate the long days, take a walk at dusk, go for a swim and, last but not least, enjoy an ice cream cone.
What could be more synonymous with summer than ice cream?
And who doesn’t like ice cream? Almost no one. Who feels stressed while eating ice cream? Probably nobody.
Of course, we’re not suggesting that ice cream can solve all our problems, help us resolve our differences or completely remove stress from our lives, but it sure can give us a break from all the craziness.
We can probably all agree that ice cream is delicious.
And that it almost always tastes better on a hot summer day than on a cold, dark one.
And that there are so many delectable flavors!
In honor of National Ice Cream Day this past Sunday (yes, there’s a day dedicated to this tasty treat, as if we needed that!), we asked our Facebook followers to name their favorite flavors. Plenty of you chimed in.
To inspire your next ice cream outing, here are those much-loved flavors – caramel collision, coffee, black raspberry, butter pecan, mocha almond fudge, chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, peanut, New York cherry, banana, and of course classic chocolate.
Is your mouth watering yet? How’s your stress level? If you haven’t dashed to your nearest ice cream shop and are still reading, consider that where you order from can be just as important as what you order.
Reporter Barbara Vitello features several suburban ice cream shops in a Business story Tuesday. They are small businesses run by community members who love what they do. And just as we encourage eating ice cream, we also encourage shopping local.
“We are so fortunate to be in places where our customers understand the huge impact they make by shopping local,” said Kimberly Yates, owner of Kimmer’s Ice Cream in St. Charles. “If your baseball team wins, come in and celebrate. If your baseball team loses, come in and cheer up. Ice cream is a win-win for life’s ups and downs.”
We couldn’t agree more. Ice cream makes everything better.
And so, we hope this editorial inspires you to slow down, enjoy the waning days of summer and have a dish of your favorite ice cream. If your stress levels are lower as a result, well then you’re welcome. Enjoy!