Yesterday was National Root Beer Float Day. I love that there is a National day for almost everything, and I was especially happy to have an excuse to make a root beer float. When we were little, my sister and I spent a lot of time with our grandmother, especially during the summer. Her house was surrounded by shady maple trees that kept us cool, but on sweltering afternoons, nothing beat the heat like a root beer float.
Grandma had tall pink plastic tumblers that were reserved for these warm-weather treats. Joanie and I got them from the cupboard while Grandma took the ice cream from the freezer and the cans of root beer from the fridge. She scooped two precise balls of Sealtest vanilla into each cup. Then she slowly poured in the root beer, trying to prevent streams of bubbly foam from erupting over the rim.
We sat together at the kitchen table and sipped as the icebergs of softening ice cream dissolved into crystal-coated blobs. We laughed at the foamy mustaches on our upper lips. Grandma never threw anything away, so we used long-handled, red plastic spoons from Carvel’s to scoop out the last remnants of the ice cream from the bottom of the cup, savoring the creamy blend of sweet and sharp flavors, the perfect antidote for a hot summer day.
Those plastic tumblers are long gone, and I don’t think Sealtest Ice Cream is even made anymore, but that didn’t stop me from savoring a root beer float yesterday. It was just as delicious as I remembered.
Thank you also to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Reading to the Core 
I was fortunate to read that this morning. That was truly a slice of life so beautifully written. I feel those childhood memories tug like tide upon me. Thanks for bringing me back that. It was delicious.
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My friend told me that it was National Root Beer Float Day. I love how you described your memories of this treat as a child. Mmmm! I’ll have to get one as I missed it yesterday.
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All your precise details make your moment so clear and set the fun, loving tone of the piece. Interesting how a drink brings back such a vivid picture of a past memory. Thanks for sharing!
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Wonderful memory captured, Catherine. My husband loved root beer floats, so you took me into my memories, too. I love all the details you’ve included, down to those red plastic spoons.
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This read like a picture book, Catherine – what a lovely memory.
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I am craving a rootbeer float and I haven’t had one in years. We loved them! You described them so well.
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Such a clear memory! I consumed a lot of root beer floats in my childhood. They were my grandma’s favourite too! But I must say: You have to put the root beer in the glass first, THEN the ice cream. That will cut down on all that foam! 😉
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Enjoyed reading your memory… it conjured up my own. Sweet.
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I have a related “root beer memory”…When I was little, Grandpa used to take me to Bassett’s Drug Store which had a marble soda fountain. My treat was a frozen mug of root beer and I remember as it it was last week loving not only the taste, but the fact that, as the ice melted on the mug, you could cause it to “travel” over the marble with a single finger! Isn’t it amazing what memories stick in our minds? Not the big things, necessarily, but the everyday happenings? There must be a poem in there somewhere! 😀
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