How sweet it is! Two scoops? Well, they were small. I am a sucker for good ice cream. Not an ice cream snob, mind you…heck, I’d even eat bad ice cream! So here I was, minding my own business, walking along the streets of The Battery District in Atlanta, when I spotted a bright, red sign…”Jeni’s.”

I told myself I would not go there. I’d flown in early for a writing workshop I would be giving the next day. Wandering, killing time. Minding my own business. I kept walking.

I was in enemy territory, afterall. When I booked my hotel, I didn’t really focus on the surrounding location itself. But, when I arrived, I realized immediately that I was staying a block away from The Atlanta Braves new stadium. It’s quite a place! Unfortunately, the Braves were out of town. I do love good baseball. And I do love and believe in my team, the NY Metsies. It’s been a long, hard relationship to hold onto.

But this year, there really is hope. We have a a great team and an owner with deep pockets. The NY Mets’ payroll is actually a bit above the NY Yankees’ for the first time ever! But…money can’t buy everything.

So, as I walked around and looked at all the Braves memorabilia, which included one beautiful, gold World Series ring, a wall of fame, listing the winning Series years, 1914, 1957, 1995 and 2021, I found myself headed back to Jeni’s. I watched everyday people out on the streets, wandering just like me. They had been  studying the statuary, the spectacle of the stadium, sitting on the lawn there too. They were talking and laughing and enjoying life. Culturally different, they were not herded into silos of this or that.

It was a beautiful day, a huge canopy of blue sky with puffy clouds spread high above us all. And, it was baseball. America’s game. My Mets are in first place with the Braves ever so close behind them. But I didn’t need to stoke any fires. If I did, it would be all in fun anyway. Baseball is life! Humor is its trademark. And as divided as our country can be, somehow baseball…and ice cream are two places where we can all come together and enjoy a delicious kind of blue sky day in peace!

           Wouldn’t this make a great flag? (Just kidding!) 😉