Brock's Ice Cream Parlor-Blast From My Past

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Today the Cancer Center seemed to be having some scheduling issues, I think the machine was "down" and needed some repairs.  So after rescheduling us twice we finally made it over there around 3pm.  It screwed up my day a bit with plans to go to the grocery store and make dinner for everyone and so on.  But like many plans that go awry, something cool and wonderful occurs.

Since the day was shot, on our way home we stopped at Brock's Ice Cream parlor in Yuba City.  Long before Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors, for me, there was Brock's Ice Cream.  When we lived at Beale AFB, we would come to town a couple times a year for school shoes and clothes.  It was a BIG DEAL for my sister and I and the best part was always stopping at Brock's for a cone!  I couldn't believe it was still around and except for a small change on the interior to accommodate folks to sit inside, it had not changed a bit.  They make their own ice cream and it is wonderful.  It brought back such wonderful pleasure moments for me - in the midst of the tornado, it was a lovely respite.  Not too mention getting to share a childhood experience with my husband.

When Dan got home, I did manage to get to the grocery store and make some Beef 'n Barley Stew.

If you find yourself going through difficult times, whatever it is, don't underestimate the value of small joys like this.  Its an old story... we take these things for granted.  Well maybe we do, but maybe we are lucky enough to not have a reason to view them in a deeper way.  I don't know... its an interesting and old concept.  But I will say, it had a dual meaning for me.  I used to go there with my father and thinking of him always makes me smile.  Now, here I was, in a little ice cream place sharing it with Dave in the middle of our crisis, and both he and I had a moment, just a moment, of something pleasurable and peaceful, mundane, normal.  I have found that these "little" things really can recharge me and sustain me.  When my mother was dying, at my home, and my life gradually and appropriately got smaller and smaller as her needs got greater and greater, I would sit out on my stoop in the backyard with a cup of coffee on a sunny morning and watch the squirrel antics, the birds at the feeder and the baby fox romping around on their way back to the den.  I found it filled me up somehow and gave me the strength to easily and fully enjoy my mother's company and care for her as she deteriorated.  It can all be such a mishmash really.  But I felt very strongly it was important for me to embrace the small beautiful things in the world - it uplifted me somehow, and that viewpoint was serving me well now with Dave.  It was familiar to me and something to share with Dave.