I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for ICECREAM!

Did anyone ever say to you "You are what you eat"? I recall being told that many times in my childhood and probably more during my teens when I was buying my own junk food.  Fast forward several years while travelling in the company of those now the same age as my parents and I am telling them to watch what they consume.

"Drink plenty of fluids so you don't get dehydrated" I tell those living in seniors residences, while at the same time peeling and cutting up apples for those without teeth and insisting that "an apple a day, keeps the doctor away."  

One of those who smirked as I nagged about nutrition was dear old Kay. I took her for a drive three times a week. Her short term memory loss was severe but she never forgot to ask for ice cream. Chocolate was her favorite flavour although according to her she had never met an ice cream flavour she didn't like

I would get her a cone and we would sit down by the water and make small talk. Nothing too in depth,  just lots of laughs in between satisfied "mmm's" as she whittled down the frozen delight with precision.  Once I asked her if she would like a cup of coffee to wash down the ice cream, to which she replied "why would I do that?"  "I want that flavour to stick with me for a while!"

In all four seasons, Kay would want her ice cream, it didn't matter the weather.  It did start to matter to me though when she started turning the cone to the side and eating the ice cream like it was corn on the cob.  The drips running down her hand and onto the seat of my van. Her confusion had her still liking the taste but forgetting how to properly eat it. I took to getting it for her in a bowl with a spoon, and when those skills deteriorated, I got her a milkshake to suck up through a straw.

There came a time when we no longer went for drives together.Her body becoming frailer, her speech getting limited, she spent longer periods in silence and I would sit with her at the hospital. Remarkably she was still the 'queen of the spelling bee',and when I would ask her how to spell ice cream, she would amaze the nurses and everyone around her by coming out of her stupor and saying clearly "I-C-E  C-R-E-A-M" followed by "C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E!"

The moral of this story:  take your fish oil, drink lots of water, eat your apple a day, do your crossword puzzles, treat yourself once in a while, and practise your spelling. It will take you far in life!