What I learned from chocolate ice cream...

Here's a funny one for you.

Pulled up at the ice cream shop about 1:30. My plan was to run in, grab two scoops of chocolate on a sugar cone and head back to the office. It was hot. I wanted a cold dessert.

Get my cone and go walking toward the car. Chocolate proceeds to drip off the cone, through my fingers and onto my orange dress shirt.

So back into the air-conditioned shop I go.

"I'm inviting disaster if I keep walking around outside with this," I tell the server behind the counter. Everybody -- including the owner -- laughs.

"Yeah," a guy says. "That would look great on those pants."

I take a seat and eat my ice cream. I listen to the two employees chatter. I try to remember how I know the guy who comes in and asks for a Rocky Road. I watch the girls walk in and out of the sub shop next door.

Turned out to be just what I needed. I could feel my blood pressure dropping. I relaxed. Finished my cone and went back on my way. It took about 10 extra minutes.

Maybe we should take a literal or figurative ice cream break every day. Gives you time to stop and smell the proverbial roses, think about life, remember what's truly important.

I'm sure glad I did.