Happy-happies

One of my friends in high school worked at TCBY, a frozen yogurt place. TCBY was located right on the ‘cruising’ strip, where many teenagers drove around in their cars on weekend nights. When one actually got out of the car, they typically headed for frozen yogurt, ice cream or the movies. I like the frozen yogurt. I also liked the toppings for the frozen yogurt. More often than not, I would order a large chocolate yogurt with crushed Butterfinger on top. Mmmm, I can taste it now. For those who didn’t like Butterfinger candy bars, there were plenty of other toppings from which to choose: Oreos, Health Bar, M&Ms, different colored sprinkles and chocolate sprinkles. My friend used to call the different colored sprinkles ‘Happy-happies’. She was and is a very bright and happy person, much like the Happy-happies. And, though it has been over 20yrs since the TCBY days, I still look back and smile when I think of her and the sprinkles.

Thanks to Facebook, I recently reconnected with my friend. And, though 20yrs had passed, I quickly let her know about my recollection of Happy-happies. Though I don’t spend my life living in the past, I will bring up past memories when I run across friends from my past. I realize we are older now. I realize what was funny years ago may not be funny now. At least, I realize that is the case for some people; perhaps it is the case for most people. As for me, I look to humor and good thoughts whenever possible. If it means I make a total idiot of myself by drudging up some old memory, so be it. I know I’ll smile as  result. I hope my recently reconnected friend smiled, when I reminded her of the sprinkles. And, I hope she has smiled the countless times I have brought it up since. [I think this is No. 5678, but who’s counting?]

I saw an interview with Ellen Degeneres where she was discussing how she enjoys practical jokes and having fun. Ellen said, “I think it’s very important to stay childlike, and I think it’s very important to still play. Everybody stops playing when they get older, so that’s why I do it.” I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. And, I find that when I look back at the things that made me laugh as a kid, I will laugh again as an adult. Happy-happies make me smile. In fact, I went to the grocery store today and bought some vanilla ice cream and different colored sprinkles. Tonight, after supper, we are going to have ice cream with Happy-happies. While this may sound quite uneventful to you, it will be a big event for our house. Our boys don’t eat much junk food, and when my husband and I [Ok, when ‘I’] give them a junk food pass, they love it.  [Please note: I bought organic vanilla ice cream. And, I spent way too much money on the organic ice cream. It’s tough being a psycho about food.]

After our special dessert tonight, instead of reading a book before bed, we may decide to watch a movie. If I am lucky, the boys may just pick out the School House Rock DVD. Again, a happy memory from my past is watching School House Rock. And, I suspect it is no coincidence that the boys love ‘Conjunction Junction’, ‘Interjection’ and ‘Interplanet Janet’, as those were some of my favorite songs. [I should really put the ‘Just a Bill’ in replay mode for the boys, and educate them on the political process of making bills into Laws. Seems quite timely, due to the pending Healthcare bill currently on Capitol Hill, but I’ll spare a political rant . . . for now.]

Again, thanks to Facebook, I reconnected with another friend from school. This time, I was quick to remind the friend about ‘Interplanet Janet’, because it was always playing in my head when I saw her. I’ve already shared that story with the boys. As you might imagine, the boys were thrilled. And well – something tells me I should feel really silly for sharing this kind of thing, but those that know me, know me and expect nothing less of me. We also wrote a book together, ‘Wonder Pup Saves the Day’. I’ve reminded her about that book approximately 15,235 times. You’ll notice that number is higher then the number of times I reminded my other friend about Happy-happies. The Happy-happies friend is still fairly new to Facebook, so I haven’t had as much time to remind her. I’m working on it though, as is evident with this post.

I have many more happy memories. I could tell you about Moon Eyes and Joe’s Pizza, alas I can sense one of my best friends cringing and covering her eyes as she reads the previous sentence. She wouldn’t be surprised if I did write about it, but if she were beside me, I think she’d advise against it. I’ll skip Moon Eyes and Joe’s Pizza for now. Besides, now I have to introduce my boys to Happy-happies. I will tell them how Happy-happies originated, and I will show them how ordinary vanilla ice cream can come alive with bright, happy colors. I may leave out the part about me ‘cruising the festival’; then again, I rarely leave out anything.