I heard Lt at the front door interacting with a child. I thought to myself, magazine subscriptions or coffee mugs? No, a little tike stood at my front door in full Boy Scout regalia delivering a presentation to LT.
This little boy had his script written out long hand on a sheet of paper. He held the paper up, as one would hold a hymnal at church. He read word for word the carefully selected words to encourage his audience to support the Boy Scouts of America annual popcorn sale. (The link I provided you with goes directly to a page explaining how our purchases support our military.)
Knowing none of this, I asked LT what the little boy was selling. He told me about the popcorn sale. He seemed genuinely distraught that I did not already know and support the Boy Scouts. Truthfully, LT is the first Boy Scout I dated (or at least the only one who showed me his badges). I ‘m a little late getting the nitty gritty and inside track of the Boy Scouts. (You can only learn so much in eighteen years of marriage.) I calmly asked him
- How many packages he purchased (I had visions of popcorn packages squeezing in with his buy, get one free specials at Publix)
- When was the expected delivery date (listen to me- this is sounding more and more like a QVC order
Lt quickly retorted that he had enough trouble making a decision between the flavors of popcorn. He did not need a barrage of questions from me. He then recited the list of colors off to me
- cheddar cheese
- caramel
- chocolate covered
- sweet and savory
- butter
- lite
Who knew he was standing at the door making monumental popcorn decisions. I decided to let him tell me what flavor(s) he ordered whenever he was up to the task.
Earnestly assuring him of my support of the Boy Scouts, I shared with him I was a Girl Scout. I just didn’t know the Boy Scouts sold popcorn as a fundraiser. Understandably, my focus has been on Girl Scout cookies. No, we did not have the luxury of prancing down the street with a carbonless form to fill in how many boxes of what kind of cookies every neighbor in a ten mile radius wanted.
After packing up one huge box, predicting what customers would buy, I peddled my wares door to door. My selling curve peaked as the day grew long. Saying no thank you to a precious Girl Scout is one thing. Saying no to a bedraggled, exhausted girl scout is another. Most people could not, buying cookies in twos and threes. With each sale my burden lightened. I believe this is what grownups call the light at the end of the tunnel.
Currently, not only does a box of Girl Scout Cookies* cost 9.95 (not exact); the customer does NOT receive the cookies that day. By the time your cookies arrive, you have given up sugar for 30 days. You end up giving the box of cookies to your nosy neighbor hoping she will eat the cookies while watching TV, rather than hanging out at the front window, checking what is going on in the neighborhood.
Good news.
LT just advised me, he selected caramel popcorn.
I hate caramel.
photos courtesy of Trails-End.com
Do you just feel better when you purchase something that says multi-grain? I shut down the part of my brain that knows to check the ingredient label to verify the first listed ingredient says the word: whole grain. Unless the label says
