Sweet and Cold Birthday

Summers in Central Texas are always hot but this year will go down as one of the hottest scorchers of all times. Already this summer has seen 68 days of 100 degrees or hotter with almost a month of Summer yet to go. Born and raised in Central Texas I never gave much thought to the extreme Summer heat as I was growing up. Now I take precautions wearing a hat, light colored clothing and taking a water bottle with me when the temperature nears 100 degrees.
Summer seemed to be a lot easier when I was a kid. I spent every chance I got at the City's public swimming pool, always begging my Mother for a ride to and from that pool and even riding my bike when she could not take me. A day at the pool meant lots of cannon balls off the high diving board and my skin smelling like chlorine but the best part of the trip to the pool was a stop at the snow cone shop on the way home. Cones were five cents back then so Mom could by my two sisters, brother, myself and herself a snow cone for twenty five cents. I can't remember if she ever bought one for herself but she probably did because I don't know anyone who can pass up such a sweet treat on a hot Summer day. I was always so traumatized when trying to decide which flavor of snow cone I wanted I could not have remembered who ordered what! Choosing a flavor was always a dilemma but mostly it was coconut or when I could not make up my mind fast enough it was rainbow. Staring through the order window of the snow cone shop looking at all the bottles filled with glowing syrup was almost blinding under the boiling Texas sun but I would have stood in line all day for a chance to stain my lips with some of that sugar magic. Even today when I think of chunks of ice being shoved into an electrical gadget which crushes the ice into a tiny blizzard and then a human hand pouring liquid sweetness onto the blizzard lowers my body temperature a few degrees.
The old saying "One can never go home again" is as true today as it ever was but if there was ever a day when you could go home it should be on your birthday. Birthdays are made for memories especially memories of your youth. Who doesn't want to be six years old again, holding a five cent snow cone in his or her hand! Even if I were once again six I would probably still chose coconut. I haven't changed over the years, once a nut always a nut!
"One can never go home again" hit me this week as I turned another year older. Lets just say I am not six any more and leave it at that. I know how many candles are suppose to go on my birthday cake but I was determined to be a kid again so I celebrated my birthday with a snow cone. I didn't want just any old snow cone, I wanted the best snow cone in Austin Texas. I wanted to stand at the order window as if I were six years old and watch someone shove chunks of ice into an electrical gadget shooting out a tiny blizzard of ice then thinking I just can not wait to shove that ice ball into my face. When I found out that one Austin snow cone shop had been in business at the same location for over forty years I knew their snow cones had to be the best in the city. Casey's New Orleans Snowballs even makes it's own ice and syrup making it one of Austin's best kept secrets. Snow cones are not five cents anymore but does it really matter? Remembering one of those distant afternoons when I was six and discovering the solace in a sweet and cold treat is about as close to going home as I'll ever get.