The Little Things: Ice Cream Edition

This is the story of how 52 cents made me unbelievably happy. 

You know how sometimes the simplest things make us the happiest?

For about a week, I’d had an intense desire for a plain-ol’ McDonald’s soft serve vanilla ice cream cone.

Now, I know McDonald’s is an evil corporation that puts ridiculous chemicals in their food and is slowly taking over the world (This is me being hyperbolic, but it’s also probably true). So no lectures! Every now and again, you just need a taste of your childhood.

I was on the way home from work earlier this week and it was a perfect day: 68 degrees, sunny. The kind of day that really lets you know that spring is here to stay, even in a flip-flop of a weather state like Wisconsin. I had to run an errand, and I knew I would be driving right past a McDonald’s on the way – not my usual route home. And in a moment of weakness self-awareness, I made the decision to stop for an ice cream cone.

The reason I had not stopped before that week is that a) I had decided that I needed to stop eating so much sugar, like I do about once a week; and b) I was out of money in my “fund” – between a couple of lunches with coworkers in the last month and a bit of book splurging (typical), I was scraping the bottom of the barrel of my “fun money.” And we’re trying to be really, really diligent while we save for our house next year.

But – I had some change in my car’s center console. I dug around (safely, at a stoplight, of course) and managed to come up with 67 cents. I thought that might be just enough. I was going to stop.

And you know what? As soon as I made that decision, I was instantly happier. The construction zone on my way to the store didn’t bother me anymore. The fact that I had an errand to run and would be getting home later than usual was no longer an issue.

And when I pulled into that drive through – “One small vanilla cone, please” – and heard her read me my total, it was only 52 cents.

Fifty-two cents for a better commute. Obviously, I couldn’t “splurge” that way every day, because that would be something like $10 a month spent in McDonald’s ice cream cones, but this once? It made life a little happier.

Now, I know the maybe food making me this happy is probably another issue entirely, but I think it was the experience that made me giggle with joy and sing a made-up ice cream song that resembled the pickle song from “Little Rascals” as I drove, long-desired ice cream cone in hand.

What little thing did you do this week that made your day? I’d love to hear about it!

**If little things like this make you insanely happy, tune into Alicia’s series “One Small Thing” – I had no idea when I wrote this on Tuesday night that she would sharing something similar on her blog this week! **

I borrowed the above photo from Flicker user Alpha because I do not have the self control necessary to take a picture of my ice cream.