Kids, Dogs, and Coffee

Today before leaving for our school run, I made sure the trash can was outside, the food was put away, but I left my “indoor” Crocs beside my suitcases. After urging and re-urging the kids to get themselves together and out the door on time, I dropped them at school, then drove over to Wal-Mart. I was feeling very tired and kind of dragged around the store picking up my few items including using the Kodak Picture Maker to reproduce the above nine year old darling shot of baby Duke lying ON Hershey under my kitchen desk in Naperville. Before leaving the parking lot, I pulled into Starbucks Drive Thru for a latte. The overly cheery associate began with a high pitched lilting, “How are you today?”
My deadpan reply was, “You don’t want to know.”
“That bad? Well, what can we start for you that will make your day better?” After ordering my drink, she spiritedly asked, “What else can I do for you today?”
You know me and my silliness. I said, “Can you make dinner for me tonight?” She coyly declined, but offered that, if I got a job at Starbucks, she could microwave something for me. A young woman was at the window, and, even before she spoke, I knew hers was not the voice I had been bantering with, so I asked who took my order. It was a middle-aged woman who looked just like her voice – not really a “normal” person (who am I to talk? ha!). I handed my money to them, and my person said, “There is no charge today.”
“That’s not fair! I have to pay.”
“Of course, that’s fair! We have the option of awarding drinks when we think it would help someone.”
Oh, my… They don’t understand my droll sense of humor. Well, I couldn’t fight a good thing, so I said, “Oh! It’s like the Year of a Million Dreams at Walt Disney World, and I won!” They concurred. So then I threw my hands in the air and yelled, “I won, I won!” That cracked them up.
Remember my Crocs? Well, I opened the door and immediately noticed little bits and pieces of something strewn on the living room carpet. My Jibbitz! They had pulled all of my Jibbetz out of two pairs of Crocs! Nothing was damaged; just some tooth scratches on the plastic.