James Dean and hot fudge sundaes

Today I drove by a Cracker Barrell restaurant and I was reminded of a story.

The story is about hot fudge sundaes and James Dean's gravesite
and about the indulgences
of grandparents.

One year my darlings and I
were visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Indiana over the holidays.

They were all teenagers and had recently discovered that
James Dean was from Indiana and was buried in
Fairmount, Indiana.

To break the trip up and add some adventure,
We decided to take a road trip
to Pokagon Park for a night
to do some tobaggon sledding
after stopping by Fairmount, Indiana
to check out James Dean's gravesite.

Grandma, Grandpa, the three teens and I piled in the car
and headed off on the journey.

We didn't make it to the highway before it was time to stop for breakfast
at Cracker Barrell.

As the waitress rounded the table gathering the various breakfast orders,
my darling eldest said, with a decided look on her face said,
"I'll have a hot fudge sundae"
and
I
being the mother said,
"You are NOT having a hot fudge sundae for breakfast."
To which my mother,
being her grandmother replied,
"Oh what does it matter, if she has hot fudge sundae for breakfast!"
I remember my daughter nodding her head up and down and looking at me
in a very satisfied manner.

She had the hot fudge sundae
for breakfast.

I remember driving the flat, frozen, rural roads of Indiana
looking for Fairmount, Indiana
and James Dean's grave.

It was late December, so the grave didn't look
ANYTHING
like the photo above, but somewhere
in the boxes of photos at my house
is a photo of my teen-aged son
licking the above tombstone.

That was a great trip, and those were the days.

And now,
I LOVE being the grandmother!
:-) :-) :-)