For as long as I can remember, our household has had a rule: when a doctor’s appointment involves needles, we get milkshakes. It was a successful distraction/treat/hydration technique, and made me probably the only kid who was ever vaguely disappointed when I wasn’t due for shots. By middle school I had a regular shake (coconut chocolate almond) that I had fairly consistently and knew to look forward to.
In more recent years, we’ve found out I’m lactose intolerant.
Naturally, that’s not the end of the world (thank you, modern medicine, even if your solution has the texture of chalk) but I still went looking for other options, and we’ve had other treats accordingly. I was looking for A Perfect Replacement, you know? Something that would live up to the well-tread hype of a childhood favorite. On the other hand… variety! I love trying new things.
Ultimately, a compromise: the new treats are varied and subject to whim; I got a tetanus booster and we got onion rings and chocolate cake. (We did not, I feel the need to note, consume them at the same time.) And when Mom got blood drawn, we went and got ice cream, armed with Lactaid and a healthy dose of nostalgia. There’s a s’mores soft serve with chocolate and marshmallow chunks at Oberweis right now – very tasty, absolutely massive (“if I put the rest in the fridge it’s a milkshake later”), and that faint jumble of ice cream smells made me inordinately happy, even just walking in the door.
There’s a quote in Amphibia – vague spoilers for a single-episode side plot, I guess – “Turns out if you embrace change instead of clinging to the past, you get a say in what the future looks like! Heck, you can even bring some of the past along with you.” And this is absolutely not what they meant by that, but man am I feeling it. And sugar happy! Happy Sunday.
