• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Bishop Robert Barron
          • George Weigel
          • Question Corner
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Suzanna Molino Singleton
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Paul McMullen
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Father T. Austin Murphy Jr.
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • Advertising
  • CR Radio
  • Printing
  • Subscribe

When life gives you blue ice cream with sprinkles

Rita Buettner October 1, 2019
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Everyone gets cranky when it’s almost dinnertime and the food’s not on the table.So, when I invited our boys to go with me to pick up something for dinner, I knew it might not be the most cheerful ride. But I hadn’t seen them all day, and I was pleased they wanted to tag along.

We were picking up take-out from a restaurant for a fundraiser that would benefit our son’s middle school. That seemed like a treat to me, but the boys would have been just as happy if I’d opened a couple cans of soup.

Off we went, arguing a little about who got to sit in which seat and why we couldn’t just eat what we had at home and whether this was even a restaurant we liked. Would the food even be good?

Soon enough, even with the crankiness, we were there. We climbed out of the car and went into the restaurant to wait for our food.

On our way in, I spotted a colleague I don’t see often. I went to say a quick hello, and then my younger son and I went to the counter to pick up our dinner.

And there it was—the answer to prayers we hadn’t even known to voice, the rarest of rare gifts, a 9-year-old’s dream come true: a container of bright blue cotton-candy-flavored gelato with sprinkles on top.

My son looked at me, and I looked at him.

No words were spoken. All questions were answered in his eyes.

“Could we get one scoop of that ice cream?” I asked the server behind the counter.

“The blue one?” she said. Even she knew.

Our fourth grader went from unhappy to overjoyed in a moment. Minutes later he was all smiles, carrying his ice cream to the door. I hadn’t asked for a spoon with it, so this enterprising ice cream eater took the cardboard top off the container and made it into a little scoop so he could start eating on the ride home.

Soon his lips were blue, and all the complaining was a distant memory.

Ice cream, you see, makes everything better, and gelato takes it to a whole different level. How great is our God that He gives us such small but important gifts to discover in the busyness and the grumpiness of an ordinary day.

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

View all posts from this author

Recent Commentary

Burial in non-Catholic cemetery/ Anxious as death draws near

Doing the impossible

The fish-stick dilemma

Washing dishes for Lent

We need rituals to mourn

Recent Local News

Social Ministry honoree brings Latin America experience to migrant issues

One year in: Families, institutions adjust to ongoing pandemic

Our daily bread: Irish tradition enjoyed on more than St. Patrick’s Day

RADIO INTERVIEW: How to pick a Bible translation

Homebound, Operation CRS Rice Bowl nonetheless raises awareness of hunger

Catholic Review Radio

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Bishop Rhoades: Latest COVID-19 vaccine can be used in good conscience
  • Burial in non-Catholic cemetery/ Anxious as death draws near
  • Social Ministry honoree brings Latin America experience to migrant issues
  • Movie Review: ‘Tom & Jerry ‘
  • Doing the impossible
  • ‘Finally,’ pope says he will be able to make pilgrimage to Iraq
  • Pope taps Newark cardinal as member of Congregation for Bishops
  • The fish-stick dilemma
  • Washing dishes for Lent
  • Retired pope talks about his resignation, Pope Francis’ trip to Iraq

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2021 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED