How Ice Cream Gives You Motivation
It’s kinda ironic, and not in the Alanis way, that ice cream served as a source of health motivation this past weekend. It was my son’s birthday weekend and I thought we were done for the day. Then the bloody ice cream truck drove down the street behind our house.
I don’t know about where you are, but our ice cream truck doesn’t ever take into account time for people to actually get to it from inside their house. It takes time to get a newly minted 5 year old out the door and find cash. By the time we made it to the end of the street, there was no truck. So, I do want any mom would do and offer to take him to get ice cream.
It’s Sunday night, just past 8pm and the sun hasn’t even set yet. The store we picked isn’t far from our house and has a nice big field with picnic tables outside, and since it was in the mid-70s after a super hot day, nearly all 8 tables were filled. We picked the one empty table left while my son zeroed in on this one family who found a deflated football in the field and they were tossing it around.
The two sons who started playing catch were in their 20s or 30s. It was clear the family was a bunch of adult children, their spouses, the parents, and several young grandchildren. And my child wanted to make friends and play, so he did. He went right on up and started playing football with the two adult kids.
But what does this have to do with health? It wasn’t the ice cream, that’s for certain. (And yes, I had some.) It was this family. The parents looked to be in their 60s and the dad eventually joined in playing football. Something my parents, albeit slightly older, or my in-laws, couldn’t do if their lives depended on it.
Seeing people playing and enjoying their moments with their adult kids by participating is how I want to be in the next 30 years. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines. I want to be where the action is and that requires me to make changes now. What I eat and do now will determine if that goal is possible. If I keep eating processed food, too many carbohydrates, and not enough vegetables- I won’t make my goal. It served as a good reminder for why I need to be thoughtful in what I do now. I’m super thankful for that family, they not only embraced my extroverted child by letting him join in on the fun, but they gave me the best reminder for what I’m working towards.