Sundae, July 19, 2026

Another reason to love July,
though I don’t need one, given
that it’s my favorite month,

the one I looked forward to all year—
summer vacation, no school,
pool time, water skiing on the lake

in the state park next door,
my birthday. What more could
a kid want?

Ice cream! (You scream, etc.)
And so, I learn, decades after I
inherited the family inclination

toward ice cream, that we celebrate
today, on Sundae. Though some of us
do so every day. Not every one?

It’s the best conversation opener
(far better than, “How old are you?”
or “What do you do in the world?”):

What’s your favorite ice cream?
I’ll make a list. One by one,
let’s try them all.

•••

Thanks to the Malekian/Thompson/Gonzalez/Swenson/Schmidt
group for a fun outing on National Ice Cream Day Eve at
Leatherby’s in Elk Grove, California.