Hodge Podge

Monday night BG and I went to pick up some candy to make goody bags for Sgt. and his soldiers since they are all so far away from home for their month of training. I originally planned for maybe 100 bags, which would be plenty with a few extras. Sgt. called and I had not told him about my surprise but then he drops on me that all 3500 from their brigade are there. YIKES. So, I nonchalantly ask him if he will actually see all these people and he tells me yes. Crap. So as I'm struggling with keeping this affordable and wondering what I've gotten myself into, he calls again and I re-ask him again and his answer changes back to only having close contact with about 150 or so. While I couldn't tell him why I was being so nosy, I'm secretly planning an empty bag with his name on it. Grrrr....3500 vs. 200....HUGE difference. So, BG and I have been stuffing candy bags and I know not a one of them will appreciate the fact I've hand curled the 6 strands of ribbon that ties each one of them closed. But I know it and it makes it just a tad bit special. While we were at Costco loading up on candy, Sgt. called and I put the phone on speaker and gave it to BG to talk to him and this is how their conversation went:

Sgt. "Hey BG. What are you doing?
BG "Shopping daddy."
Sgt. "Shopping? Did you buy any prezzies?"
BG "Daddy prezzie."
Sgt. "You did, what did you get daddy?"
BG "Candy. Daddy and friends candy. Yum"

Sweet. The days of keeping secrets are over. She then wowed the cashier when she answered the question of cash, check or credit.... with the prompt answer of "CREDIT, pease." In the midst of training her to be a teenager, we are still doing typical 2-year old things like alphabet, numbers, animal sounds and, of course, cash or credit. Sheesh.

I picked up an iTunes card while I was there and while waiting for the people to get it out of lock up, I struck up conversation a gentleman who was duly impressed with BG's ability to choose credit, properly answer the phone and give out mommy's secrets. After talking with him for a few minutes, I explained to him what my buggy full of candy was for and that my little Benedict Arnold had put the word out. He told me his step-son was preparing to go back to Iraq and I told him Sgt. had been once and we were gearing up for another go of it. He asked me how I felt about it. I gave him this answer, "Sgt. believes in what he does and I believe in him. It's not up to us to make policy, only to do the job that is asked of us." He questioned the "us" part and I explained to him that it wasn't just Sgt. doing his job, it was our family's job. Part of being a family is picking up where someone else can't. For some reason this doesn't apply to putting the trash bag back in the can or changing toilet paper rolls, but we manage to make it work. It's as simple as that. He told me I had a great attitude about it and wished us well. We shook hands, BG threw out her best, "SEE YA" and we left.

Casual check out line conversations are some of the best and I usually like them. You get the occasional azzhole who wants to bitch and moan but for the most part, you can get a tiny glimpse of someone in that 2 minutes. You leave with one of two opinions...azzhole or hmmm, okay. I like leaving with the hmmm, okay and like for people to see the same about me. Not that I'm trying to make an impression on anyone, but being gracious to someone takes no energy. People's attitudes sometimes rub off on me and maybe I'll rub off on someone one day.