Enjoy the Ice Cream While It Is On Your Plate!

I read this really great quote the other day that someone in my office uses as part of his signature on all of his emails and it totally hit me in the head with the intensity of one of those ice cream headaches…..only less painful.

I am, as I am sure most of my readers are, a bit of a worrier. What if I buy the blue sweater and decide that nothing goes with it? What if I can’t afford groceries at the end of this month? What if I lose my job next year? What if….what if??.....what if???

There are days where it consumes me. But this quote really seemed to put a new perspective on, not only my love of ice cream but, my love of life.

This quote:

“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy the ice cream while it’s on your plate.” -Thornton Wilder

…is so great on so many levels. Here is my interpretation. The obvious message Mr. Wilder, (American writer and playwright, best known for the Pulitzer Prize awarded play OUR TOWN (1938)) is telling us is that we need not worry about why things happen to you in life and when they are going to happen to you but, rather, enjoy the present. Live in the moment and enjoy it. Forget the things that are beyond your control.

Here is something else to consider that I will bet Mr. Wilder did not. The flavor of ice cream is at its fullest when the temperature of the ice cream is 40 degrees Fahrenheit. It is neither too hot, nor too cold for the product, but it has tempered, like a good wine that has been allowed to “open up” in order for you to experience the fullest aromas and flavors of every ingredient in its recipe.

So enjoy what you have. It will always be a balance of good and bad. Life is sometimes served cooler than the optimal level of enjoyment, sometimes hotter. But life is best enjoyed when it is tempered so that you can get the fullest taste of all the tastes it has to offer. Flavors and textures, chunky or smooth, sweet or salty. No matter how it tastes, enjoy it. While it is on you plate.

What better reason than to scoop yourself a bowl of the sweet stuff of life – and the bigger the serving…the better!