Eye of the Beholder

Our church was hopping this weekend. In addition to the yearly crèche display that was taking place, our ward had also arranged for a rummage. At our rummage nothing is sold. Everything is free. What people don’t want we donate to goodwill. Great idea. Right? As mentioned, the crèche display was being held simultaneously, and I was asked to perform at it. I had gone over to the church earlier in the day to practice my songs, and while there I meandered through the rummage. If you know me well at all, you know that the chances of me picking something up and taking it back to my house were slim. I love to get rid of stuff, not accumulate it. True to form, I easily walked in and out without anything.

Flash forward a few hours. I’m back at the church, this time with my posse’. The crèche is a relatively reverent event, so I knew we were in trouble when the boys both started whining about being “so bored they think they might die” after only being there two minutes. Josh had the great idea of sending them into the rummage while they waited for me to finish. I made it through, and was seated at a table listening to Sis. Treter play beautiful viola music, when the big wooden doors to the gym creak, loudly, open and in walks Isaac with his arms brimming with treasures. I’m sure that my face showed exactly the horror I was feeling inside, when he quickly said, eyes wide, “What? It was all free.”

I nearly tackled him when he said he was going back for more.

If you are wondering what the blobs are, they are soap sponges that grow when you put them in water. A gorilla and t-rex. I touched them to throw them away and I think they gave me a rash. I’m just sayin’.