SOLSC '19 Day Five: Coffee ice cream in a plastic cup

It's my birthday today...but I basically celebrate all month long.  I began a few days ago by indulging in some coffee-flavored ice cream, a local store brand that adds chocolate chunks to the mix--heaven on a spoon.

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It's a summer day in Naples, Italy, and I'm pretty sure my mom has had it with our shenanigans in the house.  She tells us to pack our swimsuits and a towel, loads us up in the car, and heads for AFSOUTH, the military base where my dad works.

After my mother negotiates Italian traffic with aggressive driving tactics learned by necessity, we arrive at the base.  If it's brunch or lunch time, we get to eat at the cafeteria--yummy, greasy diner-style grub.  Next stop, the bookstore: a paperback Harlequin romance for my mother, and comic books for my brother and me.  Then it's off to the pool.

https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/allied-forces-southern-europe-afsouth/view/google/

My mom settles in by the circular baby pool with its sloping sides, while my brother and I venture back and forth to the big pool.  When the heat gets to us, mom gives us some money to buy ice cream from the poolside snack shop.  My favorite flavor is coffee; it's served in a small, brown plastic cup with a handle.  Attached to the paper lid is a wooden spoon, offering up bites so tiny that it takes a quarter hour to finish the cup.

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Coffee ice cream: a delicious memory from 1974 and still a favorite way to celebrate, 45 years later.