August 3, 2017

• This is what I get for spoiling dogs

  My tale of woe begins with two spoiled dogs.

  

  A few weeks ago, I spent several days baking and refilling my vintage mason jars with homemade dog treats. In the process, I used up the last of my nasty Kale powder, which goes into the homemade dental treats. (The recipe calls for spinach powder, but in this day of kale worship, spinach powder is nowhere to be found on the shelves of the local health food stores.) I wrote “kale powder” on my shopping list and didn’t rush out immediately to buy it since the treats I’d just made would last for several weeks.

  

  Fast forward to yesterday. I haven’t been feeling well, but I was trying hard yesterday to overcome. I picked a few blackberries from our backyard vine, baked homemade biscuits for breakfast, checked on Krysten (who picked up a fun bacteria in her last couple of days in Santo Domingo), and headed out for my hair appointment. A stop at the post office brought me a fun surprise from one of my sisters.

  

  Mickey Mouse leggings! I adore Mickey Mouse, so these brought a huge smile to my face even as I struggled to picture myself wearing leggings. Mickey Mouse takes me right back to the seventies and makes me feel about twelve years old again.

  I drove on to the village east of us and got my hair trimmed and the tasteful shade of warm brownish-red renewed. Getting my hair cut and colored makes me feel at least ten years younger. Maybe even twenty.

  I drove a different way out of that village and found myself passing the Seventh Day Adventist grocery and health food store. Since I was right there, I decided to stop and get the kale powder so I’d have it on hand the next time I needed to refill the mason jars. I found it and gulped at the price, but it lasts a couple of years, so really, $19.79 isn’t so bad.

  

  The cashier was, according to my receipt anyway, named Natalia, and her accent was very Swedish. She asked me something about a discount that I didn’t quite catch with her heavy accent, but I had no coupons and no value card, so I merely answered, “No.” She rang me up and the total came to $18.80. “Cool!” I thought, “It’s on sale!” I happily scanned my debit card and took my purchase out to my van. It had been a good day; Mickey Mouse leggings, red hair, and an unexpected discount!

  And then I pulled out the receipt to jot the total in my checkbook register. (Yes, I’m old fashioned and still carry a checkbook.) As I looked at the total, I noticed something. I did a double-take.

  

  Little Miss Swedish Natalia had given me my very first Senior Discount. It was as if the Mickey Mouse leggings and red hair had never happened. Suddenly, I felt older than my years. I began to feel all the pain that an unexpected gift and a little pampering had temporarily pushed away. I returned home a broken old woman.

  I’m seriously considering dying my hair purple and, once the weather cools off, I will find a way to wear those Mickey Mouse leggings. I will not go down gracefully.

  And I will never go to Sweden.

   

  • 3:51 pm
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