Thoughts with Richard Bleil
My friend just acquired a new business with her husband. They purchased an ice cream truck business and have only recently begun making ice cream runs. I know, you’re probably surprised by this, but yes, I have a friend.
The business is a good match for her. She’s very friendly, charming, and basically everybody just adores her. She has been posting photos of her with the children that have been running excitedly up to the truck to buy treats. Everybody in the photos is smiling from ear to ear, be it the children, parents, employees or my friend.
They live several hours away, and on occasion post on their social media page the question of where they should stop. Of course, they mean within the town where they are making a run, but of course, every time they post the question, my answer is always the same: “Omaha”.
No, they’ll never make an Omaha run. The truck is actually rather old, and certainly never designed for a long distance run like that, but even if it was, she couldn’t sell here anyway without the proper vendor licensing, but I’m only half-joking when I say it. First, I would love to visit with them for a bit. But beyond that, I’m a little jealous of the business. It looks like it would be so much fun.
Recently, as I spoke with her, she suggested that she will look at her calendar and let me go on a run with her. I truly hope she’ll do it. I can’t imagine that it will be dreadfully different from selling tickets at the Drive-In theater, but it’s one of those experiences that few people will have the opportunity to have. Of late, I’ve taken great pleasure in simply experiencing new things, and this will be one of them. Fun or nightmarish, it’ll be something new for me, and, frankly, I can’t imagine it being anything other than completely delightful. Along with selling ice cream treats, I’ll get to spend the day with my friend, and that will be fun, too.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve never been mutilated either and that’s not necessarily an experience I would want, but new experiences are a great joy to me. It’s why, a couple of years back, I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. Last summer, I waited too long for my new experience, so this summer, I owe myself two. I’m going to count one as my visit to the Museum of Shadows, where thousands of items with “attachments” are housed, but I also want to go zip lining as I had planned last summer.
I’m probably too attached to experiences, but it’s not terribly different from some of my friends who are addicted to travel. I would love to travel, and maybe someday I will. I’ve always wanted to visit Europe and get a Euro rail pass so I can just travel from country to country to experience different cultures. I’ve always wanted to visit Amsterdam, for example, but not for the reason that people think. I find myself drawn to its architecture, until a few years ago when they decided that they would no longer enforce drug laws. Now people assume that I want to do drugs, but I never have done them and have no desire to experience drugs. Not a lot of people realize that they never actually made drugs legal. As it was an experiment, they just announced the laws wouldn’t be enforced. Unfortunately, too many visitors did go just for the drugs causing a lot of harm to the culture. As such, they have since decided the laws would be enforced again, but not for Amsterdam citizens. In other words, don’t go to Amsterdam to get stoned. Or you may get stoned. Not really. But don’t, eh?
Every Bleil in America has come from the same city in Germany, Erligheim. This means that Erligheim is indeed on my “must see” for when I do make it to Europe. But traveling would also be a great experience, and my desires are not limited to Europe. Asia would be fabulous to visit, and I have a friend from India so I would also like to visit her homeland. In my youth, I used to want to go to Russia, but again for an experience. In the case of Russia, I wanted to be in a place where I just know that I was being watched. I had no plans to do anything disrespectful or illegal, but let’s be honest, with my white privilege, I have no idea what it’s like to be distrusted by default. I would think that visiting Russia would help me to get at least a little bit of insight into it.
But regardless, I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life. I look forward to adding to them.
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