Ben, Jerry, and Me
An arctic chill crept across my spine in time with the goosebumps demarcating my excitement as I flung the doors open, eyes roving the fluorescent freezer until they finally landed upon my treasure: the Tonight Dough. With my spoon as sword and the treadmill as shield, I sliced into pure euphoria, excavating chunks of ice cream then depositing their riches into my ravenous mouth.
Though ice cream has always been a part of my life, the Tonight Dough was not always my delicacy of choice. I was once an ardent proponent of its antithesis: plain vanilla. Vanilla was safe, and I craved safety. Growing up in poverty, I was moved across the country and back in the span of one year and lived in four homes in four months. Ice cream was a rarity that could only be afforded in times of great celebration, the moments when stability was temporarily restored to my family. Vanilla ice cream was unchaotic, appealing to me because of my detestation for chaos. The prospect of uncertainty terrified me because when it appeared in my life, it carried with it countless tribulations. My childhood was consumed by chasing continuity; any ice cream but wonderfully plain vanilla would disrupt what little security I had built.
At thirteen, even vanilla ice cream could not rescue me from the maelstrom whirling around me. I had …show more content…
For the first time, I learned to adapt to the disarray and rose to the challenge rather than searching for security. I left after-school organizations to care for my sister, who has autism, while my mother left the home for the first time to work; I learned how to cook dinner while reading poetry, how to coupon while doing history homework. My life became an odyssey of wading through chaos, forcing me to learn to love the possibilities that exist when one must thrive on
An arctic chill crept across my spine in time with the goosebumps demarcating my excitement as I flung the doors open, eyes roving the fluorescent freezer until they finally landed upon my treasure: the Tonight Dough. With my spoon as sword and the treadmill as shield, I sliced into pure euphoria, excavating chunks of ice cream then depositing their riches into my ravenous mouth.
Though ice cream has always been a part of my life, the Tonight Dough was not always my delicacy of choice. I was once an ardent proponent of its antithesis: plain vanilla. Vanilla was safe, and I craved safety. Growing up in poverty, I was moved across the country and back in the span of one year and lived in four homes in four months. Ice cream was a rarity that could only be afforded in times of great celebration, the moments when stability was temporarily restored to my family. Vanilla ice cream was unchaotic, appealing to me because of my detestation for chaos. The prospect of uncertainty terrified me because when it appeared in my life, it carried with it countless tribulations. My childhood was consumed by chasing continuity; any ice cream but wonderfully plain vanilla would disrupt what little security I had built.
At thirteen, even vanilla ice cream could not rescue me from the maelstrom whirling around me. I had …show more content…
For the first time, I learned to adapt to the disarray and rose to the challenge rather than searching for security. I left after-school organizations to care for my sister, who has autism, while my mother left the home for the first time to work; I learned how to cook dinner while reading poetry, how to coupon while doing history homework. My life became an odyssey of wading through chaos, forcing me to learn to love the possibilities that exist when one must thrive on