All You Can Eat Ice Cream

I was so excited when I turned 13 years old because that meant that I was an actual Teenager, My parents liked celebrating all of our birthdays by going out after church on that birthday Sunday for the All-You-Can-Eat Ice cream sundae bar at the restaurant JB's. There was many different combinations of soft served ice cream sundaes. So as a kid I was in AWE by the 3 options of soft serve ice cream Vanilla, Chocolate and Swirl! I would take my 16 oz. glass cup then filled with a mountain of treats! I use to put colored marshmallows in first before the ice cream so they would be almost frozen by the time I ate them, hahahaha these were such FUN Sundays in my memory! There was also 3 sauces like strawberry, Chocolate and Carmel. The bar was setup with the same candies like sprinkles, nuts, candy bar pieces, Oreo cookie crunches and maraschino cherries. A legend story was of the time I ate 16 sundaes, or maybe it was 14 or maybe just 8! The truth is I can't remember because I had NEVER hurt like that before! I usually remember such great details, on the day I over ate from the ice cream bar my mind entered a foggy state. I had try several combinations, twirl and Carmel with sprinkles, vanilla and Oreo, chocolate with marshmallows and strawberry sauce. It was a crazy Sunday afternoon while my father cheered me on and we all were amazed that I kept going, I kept EATING endless amount of ice cream! I also refused to throw up by the end even though I thought I was truly going to die! My mother warned me several times that it was going to make me sick of ice cream for a long time, but I didn't listen. My father liked to compared styles, combinations and presentation of our own personal made sundaes. This wasn't a eat quick system for we usually spent the big part of an whole afternoon in JB's for the ice cream. I never forgot that 13th birthday celebration when my legs went numb and my back burned in pain. My mouth hurt and my head ached, my ribs were stuck to my sides and my skin was icy cold. For I had reached my limit to the "All you can eat ice cream" I hadn't realized it was going to be a classic family story that everyone LOVED to talked about! I only remembered it more like a huge mistake, One I knew I would never make AGAIN!


It was on my brother Derek's 13th birthday, when my dad asked him if he was going to beat my recorded, Derek didn't look so sure as I shook my head in alarm. 
"It's not FUN after a certain amount!" I warned. Once again after church we were sitting in JB's for the all-you-can-eat- ice cream sundaes. Our Father ended up getting a call to go back to work, so we teenagers were left with our mother who was easily distracted by our baby brother Daren, Derek had also invited his friend Matt to join us on that particular afternoon, Matt was also the brother of one my beloved friends. In many ways he and I were better friends then he was with my brother because I hung out at his home far more often. I remember this time very well, Derek didn't usually invite many of his friends to hang around us I had noticed. So I tried to explain to our friend Matt how it works with creating/eating the sundaes. He wasn't very impressed, as he ate his second cup he whispered over to me "When do we actually eat?" I looked around in surprised for I didn't realize my brother hadn't warned him before he agreed to hang out all day, For We just go for the ice cream. The restaurant had raised the price to $6 a person, my parents were mad about that, now we REALLY only ate at the ice cream bar....We also had to get our money's worth, my mom calculated the number of sundaes we needed to eat for it to have paid for itself. These were all the requirements for the family outing. I sat back thinking quickly what could I do to help our guest not suffer hunger for the lack of REAL food. I patted Matt's arm as I nodded while he kept whispering on explaining "I am starving, I can't just eat ice cream...this is weird..when do we EAT?" I completely understood his questions and his alarm. I spoke out bravely to my mother "Can we order of the menu? We are really hungry!" I wasn't expecting such a quick glare from my mother as she replied "NO. Debby you know the rules, if you are hungry you can have a peanut butter sandwich when we get home." I felt a flush of heat moving up my cheeks for I had thought I was being clever and being polite to not putting our guest on the spot. Matt leaned in next to me again whispering "When will we be home then?" I mumbled back "Not for at least another hour maybe..I dunno actually." I tried again to approach my mother. From across the big long table where we all sat spread out I called out again "Will we be heading home soon to eat thenmaybe?" my mother was getting really annoyed by my second question as she fed my baby brother. "Debby... stop Please just stop." For I was known for challenging her. I had wanted to eat real normal food as well once before, I had ask to order off the menu only to the horror of my parents and I remembered thinking ice cream was making me so sick yet I was very hungry! It was learning memory. The fact that I was asking for real food again, wasn't because I was an idiot! Mom gave me the "How dare you!" look again. I got THAT very look most of my life and knew how to avoid such conflict. Now in this moment I wanted to help my best friend's brother get something to eat! So I wasn't giving up as fast I would if it was just me! Finally after my third attempt with my mom as it felt like we would start fighting again. Matt patted my arm right back and took charge of speaking out about needing to have some lunch for himself if it was at all possible. My mother handed him a menu and saw my proud grin as she quickly pointed her finger right in my face "Not for you, just for our guest. YOU can wait until we go home." I replied at the very same moment as Matt, saying "He's eating ALONE?" as Matt said "I'm eating ALONE?" but my mother had already walked away so I shrugged then Matt rolled his eyes. That boy could create any facial expression which often said exactly what I was thinking. He still shared his fries after a plate of real food came for him and actually he never joined us again for a Sunday afternoon, I couldn't blame him. Over that whole event I reflected over how different our parents were. How it was when I spent a Sunday afternoon at his home with his sisters and mother, we all order off a menu without a debate or just made a fun fresh picnic to sit outside all together. Matt's mother never wasted time getting lunch ready right away for her kids! I was in awe of how different all parents are.......
I also think the idea of going out for ice cream was fun for my parents, they were excited to discover this cheap fun way to celebrate birthdays. The days of the ice cream smorgasbord are ones I won't forget, that bewildering amount of candies and syrups along with the fun contests we had in who created the best looking sundaes. Shortly, after our father blew up at the server we never returned to JB's. And our new birthday tradition changed to hanging out at Chucky Cheese....just in time actually!
for I was getting quite chubby as it was!