Ice Cream

Martin loved ice cream. In the end, it was probably the last thing he ate. About 24 hours from the time he took his last breath he was sucking down some ice cream.

In the weeks leading up to his passing, it was about all he wanted. He was in St Lukes Hospital in Downtown Houston and they had a McDonald’s inside. So not long after being admitted he would request his ice cream. Not the stuff they sent with dinner but the good stuff. I decided I would pick my battles, as this was not a battle we had fought in 25 years and there was no sense in starting it now. I just gladly went every night and got his McD’s ice cream.

When we moved down the street from my parent’s house in 1998 they would always have ice cream in their freezer in the garage. From time to time it would go missing. Martin would calmly admit to sleepwalking over to their house and eating it. I don’t think he ever apologized for it. As he would say they should have locked it up better.

Months before he and his best friend Shock Davis would talk about what kind of ice cream they were favoring at the time. His last favorite ice cream was Blue Bell’s Coconut Pie flavor. I am not a pie eater but I will have to say, it was delicious. Shock was very good to bring him ice cream any time he was running low.

One Sunday night I ran down and they had closed early for maintenance. He had what almost amounted to a 3-year-old fit about not getting ice cream. I told him that was childish, he was not able to talk much by this point and so he didn’t look at me. Like I have said before, his brain waves had changed, but his dedication to ice cream had not. Not long after that when he had no ability to speak, I could ask him if he wanted certain things to eat. It was a very hit-or-miss thing, as he wasn’t particularly interested in food. But I could ask if he wanted ice cream and he could flutter his eyebrows in a way that brought me to tears.

Why did this happen to him?

The picture above was in May 2015. We were on our way home from the lake and Martin had shared all he could with Marley Hana Sharkbite who was appalled that he would have eaten the rest of his ice cream without sharing.

The next time you are at the ice cream store, get an extra scoop and enjoy it for Martin.