Push Up vs push ups - The Universe in Balance

Yesterday I popped upstairs to the cafe at Ripley-Grier Studios for a post-lunch snack attack and saw in their freezer the most amazing childhood treat I ever enjoyed... the Push Up. I remember, when we would go home and visit family in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, walking up to Butler's General Store near the Old Mill and getting one out of their cooler.

We knew Butler's well. It was the store for everyone in town and was just across the street from our old shop that my mom and Mamaw ran when I was a baby. Across from our shop and next to the Old Mill was an old fashioned ice cream parlor that my Mamaw would walk me to from her house (she never had a driver's license... and never wanted it) and we would go in and have ice cream whenever we could. But there was something amazing about the artificial orange flavor of a Push Up (I'm pretty sure it was artificial) and the ease of pressing that thin plastic stick up through the tube that made the Push Up so amazing. (Although that little stick would pop out sometimes and then you'd end up shoving your thumb underneath and pushing to try and get the last of your Push Up.)

As an adult, I rarely see Push Ups. But knowing that they are upstairs in Ripley-Grier has given me a whole new outlook on the summer. Of course, after a summer of these tart and tasty treats, I'll have to double up the push ups at the gym... or start them.

Apparently, in a universe where balance is key and where there is good for every bad, the world gave us the Push Up to make up for the push up. Thank goodness we're in balance.

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NOTE: Unfortunately the Push Up now has a frozen rival in the Sushi Popper (thanks Gizmodo). Well, maybe not so much a "rival" as a "Oh My God! Who thought this was a good idea" disaster! GROSS!