Friendship and Icees

Two thoughts today:
1. It's July 24, my friend Sabrina Byrd 's birthday. But we're not friends anymore--we've lost touch. The last time I saw her was about 15 years ago in Medford, Oregon where she was working at a clothing store and a bank. She had a new baby boy and was about to marry a guy named, I think, Jeremy. I miss her; I hope we get back in touch some day. We were "best friends forever" in sixth grade.
2. When I was a kid we used to shop occasionally in Oregon (only an hour away and no taxes) and whenever we'd go to Kmart my mom would get me an Icee. It was a real treat, because I wasn't allowed a lot of sweets. When I first started having them, they only came in red (cherry), but later they added, I think, blue, and I'd order half-and-half. I still remember how the extra would "spurt" up from the hole in the plastic top and you had to lick it off quickly before it spilled over; it tickled the tongue. The other day at Target I decided to get Alec, who also is allowed limited sweets, a small Icee. (It comes in "clear" now, which means no stains.) That boy was in Heaven! He was perfectly silent for about 20 minutes as I shopped and he slurped on that Icee. I think he thought I was going to take it away at any moment. The next time we went to Target, after some debate with his dad, asked him, "Do you want an Icee?" And he got so excited, and said, longingly, "Icee? Icee?" So we went to the food area and the freaking Icee machine was out of order! It was like Disneyland being closed; how unfair! There I was trying to explain to a 21-month-old why I'd just lied to/teased him. "Icee? Icee? Peese? Peese?" It was so pitiful. Stupid Icee machine. It's too soon for Alec to learn that life's not fair.