Cute square box

March 29, 2008

While I was away with mother taking my annual time off, Mick was home with Aspen and Liberty doing mother work and needed house-to-do's. He called me from Home Depot to ask me some pressing question about a project he was working on. In the distance of the phone I could hear Aspen asking for a quarter. "I want some moneys to daddy" said libby.

“Where are you” I asked.

“We're back by the bathrooms” said Mick.

Next, I heard Mick call after Aspen. “Where did she go”? I asked.

“I don't know”, he responded as he walked in her direction.

And there's candy machines back by the bathrooms I thought? Oh, yes occasionally I've seen those gigantic quarter hogs enticing bathroom patrons into wanting more, more, more. That's when I heard her say “Daddy, can you open this”?

I imagined that he took it in his hand, ready to help open the box like a good daddy would, when he stopped abruptly and questioned, “oh, Aspen, do you know what this is”? That's when it hit me while on the other end of the line, I knew what it was!

Each time we have gone into a public restroom, she has seen a tampon and sanitary pad dispenser. Insistently, she has always said “I need one”. I have always replied” you don't need one of those, leave it alone”, instead of explaining what they were and why she didn't need one. So curiosity remained constant and the one time I'm not there to tell her she does not need one, for heavens sake, she needed one!

Later that night when I spoke with Mick on the phone once again, I asked him about the box. “What did you do with it?”, I said.

“I just left it in the cart”, he replied.

I laughed out loud. Somewhere in the dark recess of my mind, I envisioned an unsuspecting male customer hastily grabbing his cart to head down the isles, only to be grossed out by the sight of a maxi pad stuck to the side of the cart next to his box of nails he just tossed in. I wonder what the poor guys expression was as the cashier unstuck it from the cart, whadded it up in a tight ball and tossed it in the garbage all while giving the customer a pathetic look.

Mick had told Aspen exactly what the pad was used for and why she didn't need it. She said “ooh gross”, and that was it. No extended questioning, no whining, no fighting with dad and pleading her case about why she could not possibly live without a pad.

The funny part is, later that week as I returned home, it happened again. This time at Sam's Club. At Sam's Club you don't even need the spare change that you would never have even if you needed it, extras are hanging around as a public service. How great is that. Aspen grabbed a tampon. I had to remind her what they were for. I don't foresee her needing any supplies in the near future. Thank Goodness!