Woke up in the wee hours of the morning to a thunderstorm. A big one, too. It was awesome! Jim was awake too and we just laid there listening for either one of the boys to start squawking, but no peeps were made, that we could hear anyway. There’s really nothing like a good thunderstorm to get spring going.
Andrew had his 15 month check-up this morning. He hates, hates being laid down on the table even for height / weight / general poking and prodding. He knows whats coming. It’s so funny because Daniel never seemed to mind coming to the doctor or associate it with getting shots. Andrew sure does. And he gets so mad. He screeches like a mad wet hen. It’s kind of funny, actually — not the pain cry, but the mad cry.
Andrew has such a funny little personality. And Jim swears that he’s got athletic talent. He throws the ball like a champ. He likes to eat and will complain loudly if someone is eating something and not giving him any. Don’t take him out of his highchair before he’s done grazing either, or you will experience the wrath of Andrew. They told me at PMO today that he had gotten kind of fussy so they put him in a stroller and pushed him around. When it was lunch time, he didn’t want to get out of the stroller, so they just fed him while he sat in it.
Daniel had a break from preschool last week and apparently released a bunch of pent-up frustration there today. . . on everybody else. Lots of time-outs for Mr. Daniel.
This morning was really busy because I had to take Daniel to preschool, then take Andrew for his check-up, then drop him off at PMO, then go to a doc appt myself. By the time I finished dropping Andrew off, I had yogurt drink, blood stains, spit-up and snot on my clothes. Nice, hunh. Sad to say that I didn’t even really care. Whaddya gonna do?
One last story:
I was shopping for postcard in Chapel Hill and went into one of the T-shirt places on Franklin Street called something like “Shrunken Head.” I asked about postcard and was shown to the back by a friendly cashier. The postcards were more expensive there, but I appreciated the kindness and didn’t want to schlep back to the drugstore, so I picked out a few and headed to the counter to pay.
I did not have any cash on me and was planning to pay with my debit. An elderly man came up from the back to ring up my purchase. By newspaper clipping on the counter, I could tell that he was probably the original owner of the store and had been around for years and years. (I suspect the original name of the store was not “Shrunken Head”, just a guess.)
When I started to hand him my card, he said, “Oh, there’s a minimum to use your card.”
“I don’t have any cash,” I replied.
He then proceeded to ring me up and said, “You take the cards and bring me back the $2.09 when you have it.” He made a notation on the receipt and gave it to me.
“Nobody does that anymore, do they?” he said with a little grin.
I felt a little embarrassed, but took the cards, said thank you profusely and exited the store to find a bank machine.
I got $20 from the ATM, broke it for a drink at another store, and proceeded to take my $2.09 back to Mr. Henderson. As I walked in the store, he was walking out from the back, and because he walks kind of slowly (and because I was still kind of embarrassed), I waved to him and placed the money on the counter so he could see it and turned to go.
“No, you give it to me,” he said, continuing to walk to the front of the store.
“OK, sure,” I said, reaching to get the bills I had placed on the counter.
He was closer now and I handed him the money. “Here, you keep your dime,” he said.
“Ok.”
“Here, let me give you a hug. Have you had a hug today?” he says.
“Er, OK. Uh no, I haven’t had a hug but I could definitely use one,” I replied.
“I haven’t had a hug yet today either,” he says as he reaches out and hugs me.
“Been giving hugs for over 70 years,” he says and smiles.
How sweet and random was that? It still makes me smile to think about it.
Here’s a hug for you *hug* Maybe that will brighten your day a little.
