Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I went back into the family business this year. Which is to say that I spent almost a month of this dusty, drought-ridden, 100 °F Arkansas summer sitting in a tent trying to convince people to buy fireworks while under a burn ban. My three-year hiatus actually made the experience much more fun than I was expecting it to be; and seeing everything through my son's eyes made me remember how much I used to love it all when we first started. Magic happens in those tents.
Some lessons learned:
- Most people are into instant gratification. They don't care that the city will let them shoot off their fireworks when the burn ban is lifted, they want to blow stuff up NOW. I cringed every time I saw the fire truck drive by.
- Technology, toddlers, truck trailers, and gravel do not mix. Specifically when a hot and angry toddler throws said technology from the back of a 5ft high trailer onto the gravel. My poor Nook.
- The Nook Insurance was SO WORTH IT. (My husband was right; I was wrong.)
- Technology and extreme heat do not mix. Funny things happen. My poor (new) Nook.
- Little boys don't like picking up trash. Unless free rockets are involved. Then little boys love picking up trash.
- When the heat index is around 104 °F, light reading is possible but thinking is not. I stopped taking notes after the first book.
- I have some amazing friends who are excellent cooks and willing to bring me food! Score!
- On a related note: teenage boys prefer the hot pockets and ramen.
- All those years I spent maligning my friends for playing Magic -- thinking they were so much dorkier than I -- were years of ignorance. My 17 year old cousin succeeded where my friends failed...I now fully don my geek mantel and prepare for my first draft party.
So, that is a pretty fair approximation of my experience of June and July. I will be back soon with regularly scheduled reviews.