7-11 is Heaven.

We were driving through Rochester today, mindlessly following our GPS to the zoo, when I looked up just in time to see a 7-11. So of course I yelled "7-11!!!!!!" the way a person would yell "FIRE!" and Micah immediately swerved into a parking lot and turned around.

As if on cue, all the traffic cleared and we crossed 4 lanes of traffic unhindered right up to the doors of 7-11. It was all so perfectly orchestrated, Micah compared it to the parting of the Red Sea. Indeed, I believe angels intervened. (Because making sure we get to 7-11 is probably a high priority for heavenly beings).

Yes, I know it's just a gas station. But we don't HAVE 7-11's up here. Or so we thought until today.

We haven't been to one since moving from Colorado. It was a tradition there to do The Incline and then get a slurpee afterwards (thereby ensuring no calories were actually burned). Sometimes we skipped The Incline and just got a slurpee anyway. And sometimes when we were out running errands we got a slurpee to celebrate our successful errand running. Once Bekah came to visit us on Free Slurpee Day, and we may have hit up two or three (or seven) of them in a row.

So it's not just a gas station. I grew up getting slurpees with my dad. It's my heritage.

Naturally we had to let Skylar experience her first slurpee with her daddy. Our excitement must have been contagious, because although she had no idea what a slurpee was (it could have been a cup of Brussels sprouts for all she knew) she was whipped into a frenzy and went marching in there to find out.

She picked a blue one and came running out to the car to show me. (At this moment I'm thinking that slurpee is way too big for a three year old. I'm such a kill joy).

Oh happy, delicious day. (That first sip probably gave her flashbacks to the womb. I drank enough of them when I was pregnant with her. Bad, I know).

And just like that a love affair was born. A tradition passed on. A brain freeze incurred.

Don't forget that this monday, 7/11, is free slurpee day for those of you lucky enough to be in close proximity. Drink one for me!