Sunday, July 18, 2010

no bum, just genius

It doesn't take a genius to know that, as a father, my husband has always had a heart of gold and a soft spot for his daughter, our daughter, your through mommy goggles blogger. He's no bum when it comes to giving in to her requests for popcorn late at night. He's no bum to turn her down when she asks for a backrub because of the aches of carrying kids around all day. He's a genius when it comes to entertaining our granddaughter, Camille, when asked to help out or babysit, or just because Camille wants it that way!

Yesterday Tom became a bumGenius....that's diaper talk for one of the favorite brands of cloth diapers that Jenna uses for our two grandkids. We were in St. Louis yesterday for a wedding; the first time in many, many years we made it to my hometown.

What are the odds that a tiny little store called Cotton Babies would be having a semi-annual sale on the very same day on, of all things, used bumGenius cloth diapers! Yes, used. Some very worn and full of holes. Others in not-too-bad condition and worth spending the $1 each was going for (with a 25 diaper maximum per person). Thousands and thousands of them. We were asked, very sincerely I must add, if we would mind going to the store and checking out the sale (how Jenna knew about it besides Facebook is still a mystery to me; but my guess would be it has something to do with diaperswappers.com). We should get there a bit early we were told, but not too early.

Did I mention that it is hot here? Very, very hot! At 8 o'clock in the morning (an hour before the sale began) we arrived and went to the end of the line (which did, according to the Facebook notice, begin inside), outside at the back of the building...in the sun. I called the daughter to let her know we were in line...and that it was hot. She felt bad and told us to leave. She did want to know what the other women were there to buy, and if any had attended a sale before...so I asked the women in front and behind us. Now, you should know that up until this point, everyone was pretty quiet, minding their own business trying to stay cool. Once I mentioned we were from up north and were there as proxies for our daughter...and that our only reason for being in the neighborhood was to attend a wedding...well, these women got to talking, and talking, and talking. Some were from the area; some came from Iowa or Illinois, and so on.

Now, my husband is a genius in that he knows that I don't do well in the sun or the heat. Since we weren't in the shade at the front of the line like these people below, I began to wander around to keep cool, going into the St. Louis Bread Company (known to most as Panera) store for my first iced mocha (that's now a new favorite). Back in line, my husband was listening to conversations around him and becoming educated on the reproductive problems and processes of the women in line with him! What a genius to stay focused on the task at hand and not be intimidated by the conversations around him.

Once the doors opened, it took another hour to reach the front of the store and this sign advertising the sale. I had to text the daughter to tell her about the sweat dripping down my back so she could continue to experience this vicariously through us.


The line was another 45 minutes long inside. But, as good grandparents, we used the time to glance around at all of the amazing gizmos and gadgets available for kids these days. In the end, we made it to the tables of yellow and marigold and light green and dark green, and light blue and dark blue, and light pink and dark pink, and white and organic diapers. It was a rainbow of diapers. Not being experts, we counted on our new-found friends to help us make the best choices (daughter did provide guidance too in advance, but these women really saved the day).

In the end, we ended up with 24 diapers at a buck a piece! They've been packed and are in the trunk of the car for the return trip to our home.

Tom's happy that it's all over. No, he's happy that he could make his daughter happy! Now that's not a bum, is it? That's a genius!
We did make it to the wedding in time...after I entered in the reception address into our GPS instead of the chuch address and causing us to arrive just two minutes before the ceremony began! Tom was a genius again for not getting tooooo frustrated with me for making such a silly mistake.

What a guy!

2 comments:

Keira said...

That is AWESOME!!!! I am so jealous that you got those diapers so cheap! Next time there is something like that going on you have got to let me know!

Kristy said...

Thank you to Tom and Sue for your sacrifices in getting these diapers, and thank you Jenna for your generosity in allowing me to take 4 of these diapers off your hands! The marigold one looked so darling on Isabel's bum this morning!