This is a post about overcoming the odds, and fighting for what you want. And it all begins with a soft-serve chocolate and vanilla twist. Allow me to begin.

Ice cream cones taste better in the summer, and this is a fact in my book. Maybe it’s the 95 degree heat, the beads of sweat on your upper lip, or the way you have to eat it extra quick to avoid getting sticky fingers (little kids don’t care about this, clearly).

I live about four minutes (three if I’m really craving it) from a local ice cream parlor. This is a blessing and a curse, but mostly just a blessing. One summer, when I was nine or ten, my mother took us to get ice cream every single day for about a month and a half. But even then, I ordered the exact same thing for sixty days straight.

Thanks to my nut allergy, I can pretty much kiss eating desserts (that aren’t homemade) goodbye. Bakeries, candy stores, and ice cream shops always have the risk of cross contaminating a peanut-free piece of double chocolate chip cake with an accidental stray almond.

However, when it comes to soft-serve ice cream, you put milk, cream, and sugar inside the machine, and out swirls the magic. The fact that it won’t kill me makes it even more mouth-watering, and I can’t get enough of this wonderful, safe-to-eat dessert.

Now comes the bubble-bursting, tear-jerking part of the story. I got a cavity filled two days ago, and it hurts like a stubbed pinky toe on a metal coffee table. It hurts to smile, it hurts to laugh, it hurts to drink through a straw. It hurts to drink coffee, it hurts to eat yogurt, it hurts to chew carrots, and today marks the third day of hurt.

That being said, I refuse to be deterred by anything.

I am strong, I am powerful, and I am determined. I know what I want in life. And what I want today, heck, every day, is a small chocolate and vanilla ice cream cone.

This pain-in-my-mouth cavity isn’t going to hold me back from chasing my dreams, and I will continue to enjoy my soft-serve ice cream all summer long.

Yours truly,

Maddie