My childhood friend reminded me the other day that when we were kids, she regularly joined me and my parents for dinner at Pizza Hut on "Sprengisandur”. The place has closed a long time ago, but now Grillhúsið is in the same building (if I'm not mistaken).

I had actually forgotten how regular this was for us. More often than not, my parents took us to this place. I always found it fascinating, because unlike many other places, it was a large (probably a former individual) house where you could sit by the window, on a raised platform or upstairs. There were also many booths and tables, a TV area and best of all, an ice machine. When we bought a children's meal, it came with ice cream for dessert - which we could prepare ourselves.

What really struck me about this story is that my friend told me that she almost never went out to eat with her family during this time. For her, it was very exciting to go with us.

I had actually forgotten these memories, which were of course very sweet, because of how mundane - in a way - they were. I discussed this with my psychologist the other day, but she pointed out to me that often bad memories take over - because they affect us much more - and the normal and good everyday memories are overshadowed. She asked me to write a description of what those visits to Pizza Hut had been like, so they would stick in my memory better and I could refer to them when I needed fond memories to look back at.

A normal visit to Pizza Hut involved a bit of a wait at the counter, we usually always had a table booked. So when it was our turn it was exciting to see which table we would get. Would we be upstairs? All the way by the windows? In a booth at the center? I always found it exciting - and the place was usually packed. At least in memory.

The pizzas were good, and for someone with an egg and peanut allergy, it was a nice change to be able to order food like everyone else. As the pizzas had neither nuts nor eggs, I didn’t have much to worry about. I feel like I always ordered a margarita - but I might be wrong. I don't remember if the pizza came with any sides, but soda at least - and then of course the ice cream. It was always super exciting to use the ice cream machine to make your own ice cream.

It was most likely a lot more shabby than I remember. Lots of kids tinkering with an ice cream machine. But it was so much fun!

In fact, the best thing about this was probably getting to just be a kid, unfathomed by the influence of the outside world (Pizza Hut seemed like a world on its own) - and having fun with your best friend.