Incentivizing ice cream

I guess I was missing the honeymoon planet more than I thought. Expressing a visceral, howling-from-the-depths-but-momentary raw need on Facebook, I typed “wants an ice cream cone” in the little window where you say what you are up to that minute. Perhaps I was thinking of the cinnamon and licorice Berthillon cones we had on Ile St Louis in Paris—or the creamy caramel gelato in Garda. Whatever, having expressed my deep desire to all, I moved on with my busy day (which, it turned out, did not include ice cream).

Responses were fast and abundant. “What flavor? I’ll bring you one!” asked a friend in Seattle...within five seconds of my post. Many others checked in with suggestions that ranged from Skinny Cow at the corner store (only 90 calories) to artisan ice cream boutiques on dusky suburban street corners. More than one proposed meeting in Berkeley—or San Francisco—or New York—RIGHT NOW for the best cone ever. I felt the ice-cream love and it was fabulous.

A day or two later, I was driving somewhere with my mom, Betty, listening to President Obama talk about incentivizing health care on NPR. “Is incentivizing a real word?” Betty asked. The second I got home, hoping to be the first to do so, I signed on to facebook and replaced “...wants an ice cream cone” so that my window now read “Kathi...is incentivizing,” anticipating breathless responses to my clever referencing of the president’s speech.

A couple of people clicked the “likes” button...and the world moved on.  

This proves that Americans are a lot more interested in ice cream cones than they are in Presidential speeches about health care reform. Maybe that's why the ice cream is so good in France. They already have a national health care plan.