I have many families: my blood family, my school family, and my work family. I love all of them equally and I don't know what I would do without them. Scooping ice cream is one of my favorite things to do and the things that I have learned while spending my past few summer's at brown dog ice cream are points that I carry through my life day-to-day.

Here are some of the things that spending my summer's scooping ice cream, have taught me:

"Sometimes 'ice-hard' may not be the best adjective to explain something."

Because, trust me, that ice cream can be harder than ice sometimes. There have been times when I thought I may have left my arms in the dipping cabinet with the ice cream because they broke off at the elbows. This is why I get upset when people tell me that my job is easy. I have also gotten better with descriptions in college now that I have worked at brown dog; having to come up with explanations of flavors when a customer asks has made my ability stronger not only with being able to describe something but also with my social skills.

"Being covered up to your shirt sleeves in ice cream isn't all that bad."

My dog seems to like it! Normal people would probably despise this, but working with ice cream has, in some way, given me a child-like mindset. Though I work with both children and adults (ice cream for people age 1-99), I have decided that the ice cream that covers my arms is a form of art; I enjoy working with children and I want to work with children in the future too. Having your arms covered in ice cream can actually mean many things! It can mean that you just decided to slather the ice cream all over your body (which is not something that we do, I promise), or we just work really hard to make sure that you get the best scoops of ice cream around.

"There is a right way and a wrong way to mop a floor."

I cannot count how many times I had to re-mop a floor the following morning after not doing right the night before. Working at brown dog has offered up many things, including how to thoroughly wash floors, dishes, and a dipping cabinet, (hint: scolding water and lots of soap is key).

"The process of making ice cream requires a lot of time and patience."

Probably one of the biggest perks of my job is that I get to try all of the flavors before most other people. When our boss asks her staff's input on certain flavor combinations and mix-ins, it makes us all happy because we know that there is a new flavor that will be revealed in the near future. Sometimes I don't see my boss for an entire shift because she's in the kitchen working so hard on producing gallons upon gallons of ice cream for the customers that frequent our little shop. So many unique flavor combinations have come out of that kitchen, so many marvelously flavored-unique ice cream flavor combinations; I mean, avocado and jalapeno ice cream? Don't knock it until you try it, because it's actually very good.

"The people you work with can quickly become a second family."

Through the half-decade that I have been a staff member at brown dog ice cream, I have made many friends. These people are there for me if I may need them and I can always trust that they will be there with advice. I can always count on them if I need to laugh (because they are pretty funny), I can count on them to teach me something new (my boss has taught all of us many things that we will not soon forget), and I can always count on making memories every summer (dropping tubs of cherries, spilling buckets of water, and even saving birds with broken wings). My work family is composed of people that I look forward to working with every summer.

"You find out what your favorite flavors are, and someone else may not like it as much as you."

My favorite flavor of ice cream at brown dog is spiced chai! It reminds me of the fall and I 'fall' in love with it all over again every year. I have found people who do not like it as much as I do though; having them tell me that it just tastes like vanilla to them breaks a little piece of my heart off every time. Also, there are people who enjoy other flavors in which I do not normally partake. But, there has yet to be a flavor at brown dog that I have hated; I have enjoyed all of them in different little ways. This teaches me that everyone is different, and that these differences are what make us unique. Diversity is very important, and being able to discuss the things that make us different, even if it's our preference of ice cream flavor, is what educates us on those differences that make us unique. So, yeah, I like spiced chai, but you may like honey pistachio. Let's talk about it.

Throughout the years I have learned many things as an ice cream scooper, but these are my favorite things: use of adjectives, child-like tendencies, learning how to thoroughly clean things, being an ice-creamologist, working with a five star staff that makes me excited to come into work, and noticing the diversity that is all around me. I find that I look forward to the summer time now, not only because of the beach and the vacation from textbooks, but because I get to work at brown dog ice cream! I love the people that I work with, and I love all of the ice cream that I get surrounded with every summer. Now that I'm 9 hours away I miss it that much more.

See you in a few weeks Cape Charles! But, better yet, see you in a few weeks brown dog ice cream!