Summer Bucket List

This summer, the kids & I made a bucket list. It included some regular things like the pool or the park for those days when we had nothing planned, and some extra-special things like riding the train at the zoo. But there was one that was at the top. The ultimate. The one they asked about daily. The one that required perfect timing.

The ice cream truck.

I'm not a huge fan of ice cream trucks. They are a bit...creepy. But my kids love ice cream and fun and things out of the ordinary and they don't know about creepy yet. So ice cream truck was added to the list.

About a month ago, I heard it. The distorted jingle of a jack-in-the-box song blared from blown speakers. I ran downstairs, rushed the kids outside, and...it was gone. Nowhere. In a HUGE mom error, I told the kids what was happening before I confirmed that it would, indeed, happen. The three of us sat on the steps, nearly in tears, as Caleb laughed at my blunder.

Every. Single. Day. since then the kids have asked about the ice cream truck. Sometimes it is sweet. "Will the ice cream truck come back?" Sometimes it is whiny. "Whhhyyyyyy won't the ice cream truck come back?" Sometimes it is dramatic. "We are never, ever going to see the ice cream truck ever again!" Sometimes I suspect they are mentioning it just to remind me of my error.

And then, last night, I heard it again.

I rushed outside but saw no ice cream truck. I yelled for Caleb who ran to the corner and confirmed that childhood on wheels was driving AWAY from our house. It turned down a street that is a dead-end. What goes down a dead-end must come back...so we waited.

Caleb stood on the sidewalk with the kids while momma bear stood barefoot in the middle of the road. Waiting. Listening. Determined that my children would spend the evening EATING ICE CREAM out of a TRUCK driven by WHO KNOWS and DOGGONE IT, EVERYONE IS GOING TO LIKE IT!

The truck returned. Two blocks from where I stood, frantically waving my arms, it slowly, cautiously turned away from me. No.

"HEY!!" I screamed and the glorious glow of break lights lit the street as the twisted music was pierced with backup beeping. Caleb shook his head in resigned embarrassment at his wife. Neighbors peered out of their windows. Jack & Elliott jumped up and down and shouted with glee. I held my head high and took my bare feet back to the sidewalk.

Elliott wanted one of everything and was almost too excited to make up her mind. Jack stared, silent and wide-eyed, for a full 3 minutes before we told him he absolutely had to decide. They both already know what they want to order next time. But that won't be until, at the earliest, next summer...