5. Tell us about a time you broke a rule.
While thinking about the many rules I’ve broken in my life, and there have been many, I ran a quick search to see which of them I might have already written about. Did I write about the car I stole? Have I shared about how I broke curfew and was grounded for an entire summer when I didn’t come home?
What I found was a fond memory of stealing pumpkins as a grown woman from the pumpkin patch with my kids and it made me laugh so I’m sharing it with you again today. Looking at these pictures of children who are all about as tall as me now is so surreal. This is why I blog!:
I stole pumpkins.
Last year at the patch it was a madhouse. The patch was PACKED. We had to wait in line for a wagon and then gave up waiting for one altogether. We had three tired kids screaming at us by the time we were ready to go, parking was horrendous, it was cold and windy…we just wanted out of there.
I walked Pat to the car with the kids and pumpkins so they could load up and then took my sticky note with the cost of the pumpkins scribbled on it and went and stood in line.
And stood there.
And stood there.
And stood there.
I was ALMOST to the front of the line when I saw the “CASH ONLY” sign. Fiddlesticks. We don’t carry cash and I only had my debit card. Pat, the kids, and the carefully chosen pumpkins were all loaded and waiting.
I glanced at the busy workers as I studied the numbers on my sticky note.
I smiled nervously at the woman behind me patiently waiting to move forward.
I gazed at the fields upon fields of orange treasures. Thousands of pumpkins that would surely be picked raw by crows and field mice in the upcoming weeks.
I slowly backed away.
I calmly walked to the car.
I climbed in and slipped the sticky note into the front pocket of my purse.
Me. A thief. A van filled with my oblivious accomplices. It felt horrible…but necessary and I TOTALLY intended on going back at nap time to pay what was rightfully due….but….I was so tired and it’s just….surely after naps I could go back and pay….but then….they were closed and well….well the more time that passed and the more sure I was that I was not going to jail the HARDER it was to make myself go back and pay for the pumpkins.
What’s the last rule you broke?
Pumpkins…just crops right? I mean the seeds couldn’t have cost more than a few pennies right?
Naturally, this year when we went I was sure to pay for last year’s stolen goods.
Ahem.
Maybe.
John Holton says
Gee, Pat with dark hair…I’m used to seeing a lot more gray…
Listen, you would have paid if conditions were perfect, and I would guess that the folks selling the pumpkins would have understood. Still, it’s a pretty funny story. Besides, it’s not like it was a Christmas tree… ;)
Kim says
It’s totally understandable why you didn’t/couldn’t pay. I don’t know what kind of business in this day and age (even though it was a few years ago) isn’t set up for debit transactions, since that’s how most of the country pays for things now.
But some businesses – AND BANDS! – aren’t on board with that yet. I went to see The Damned in May of 2017 and they had a cash only merch booth. My friend offered to give me cash to buy a shirt, but I objected on principle – again, who isn’t set up for debit transactions in this day and age??
Kim says
P.S. I meant to lead out with this, but I loved seeing the photos of your beautiful family at the pumpkin patch!