Charity sometimes faileth. . .

Today Blaine's boss, Heidi, hosted a little party to celebrate the arrival of Bentley. The children and I (the children. . . that's hilarious!) were also invited. She was so nice to organize his whole group there and to supply cookies and even present us with a very generous gift. It was fun to go and see where Blaine works, what his cube looks like, etc. Gwen was fascinated by some pretty funny things, "Whoa! They have drinking things at your work!" (referring to drinking fountains, who knew this was such a perk- they should have included information like this in the benefits package information!).

It was fun to meet all of the people in Blaine's group and I was overwhelmed at their generosity. At the end of the party there were several cookies left and Heidi wanted us to take them home. So I packed up the kids and the cookies and we were on our way home. I was in distress since I do not need any extra calories (I am on a roll, I've already lost 20lbs this week- that could be a record!), and the cookies were good, but probably not worth the calories to me. So I took the cookies, full well knowing that I would likely eat them all within moments of getting home, even though they weren't my favorite.

Then I was stopped at a stop light and I noticed a homeless man sitting at the corner. First I just locked my doors and looked away (I never know what to do!). Then while attempting to avoid eye contact with the man my eyes caught the cookies. This was perfect. I rolled down my window and offered the cookies to the man, he was very grateful and thanked me. I felt happy as I rolled up the window, what a win-win situation.

About two milliseconds after I rolled up the window Gwen burst into tears, "THAT MAN TOOK OUR COOKIES! ISN'T HE GOING TO SHARE WITH US?" "WHY DID HE PUT OUR COOKIES ON THE GRASS???!!!" sob, wail, scream, cry, huff, puff, sob "THE BOX IS GOING TO GET REALLY DIRTY BECAUSE HE PUT OUR COOKIES IN THE GRASS!!!!" "HE NEEDS TO SHARE, HE CAN'T HAVE ALL OF THEM". "HE TOOK OUR COOKIES!!!!"

I launched into a lecture about how the man didn't have any breakfast or lunch and so he needed our cookies so he wouldn't be hungry.

"BUT BUT BUT HE DIDN'T SHARE WITH ME!!!!!" Right, we shared with him. Thank you for sharing with him, he was so happy. "BUT I AM SO SAD BECAUSE I WANTED MY COOKIES AND HE TOOK THEM AND HE DIDN'T SHARE WITH ME!!!!" "WE HAVE TO GO BACK AND FIND MY COOKIES, HE PUT THEM IN THE GRASS AND THEY ARE ALL DIRTY!"

After another lecture on the finer points of sharing Gwen's screams and wails continued. It took all I had to not laugh, and all I had to not cry, and the little brother slept peacefully through the whole ordeal!

So, was it worth it? Yeah, I am glad the guy got the cookies. If I had it all to do over again though I would have taken one out for Gwen. Then maybe my eardrum would not have burst after the thirty minutes of continuous screaming. Live and learn. . . ;)