After I wrote this blog, I wondered if it was newsworthy and sent the text to our local newspaper. A reporter loved it and called to interview Kait about her magical night. Unfortunately our hero was never found. Here is the article:
Random Act of Kindness News Story
I'm not sure if I even have a point to half of my parenting choices but sometimes the kids have interesting outcomes.
Random Act of Kindness News Story
I'm not sure if I even have a point to half of my parenting choices but sometimes the kids have interesting outcomes.
Kait begged me to pre-order her a "Harry Potter And the Cursed Child" book at various bookstores over the last few weeks but I steadfastly refused. I had two retrospectively foolish reasons. One, pre-ordering steals the excitement and anxiety of whether you will get one. Two, books don't sell out. This is the digital age, half of us have kindles and most buy books second hand or go to the library. Case in point, Kait has an entire set of hardback Potter books I bought at a thrift store for $1 each.
Kait became hooked on the idea of going to a midnight release party and researched all of the local bookstores for the very best, very most exciting party. After hearing B&N anticipated hundreds of people, she settled on 2nd & Charles.
Let me pause to say that nobody in my family has ever participated in a midnight release of anything. So we picked up her bestie with Kait in full regalia. Her enthusiasm was boundless. When we walked in I knew we were golden. Maybe 50 people milled around playing trivia and drinking butter beer. I figured they had hundreds of extra books. Kait won their costume contest handily with her saucy complex replies to every question she was asked about Potter and won a poster.
Finally, 12:00 neared and we stood in line doing the countdown to midnight like a bunch of loons. As we approached the counter I saw about half of the people being turned away. Dread. It turned out they were only giving people pre-ordered books. I got annoyed and asked the woman why nobody had told me that in the last three hours. She looked guiltily around and said "we only found out 2 minutes ago." We walked out and little Kait held back tears. I called B&N and they told me I had about 20 minutes. I decided to make a night of it, then I made a wrong turn. Ugh! Exactly 20 minutes later, by hook or crook we arrived at Barnes & Noble. The doors were locked. Our shoulders drooped. I felt so guilty for refusing to pre-order. A group of young millenials were standing around laughing and holding their bags with their Potter books and one girl yelled out for us to bang on the doors. We tried to no avail, so then she suggested we move closer to the registers and bang there, so we did. Finally, a manager unlocked the door shaking his head no. I begged him pretty please to sell her a book with my most soulful puppy dog look and the chatty girl in the background threw out reasons for hem to say yes. He weakened and said he would check the cafe and see if they still had a till open. He came back sorrowfully shaking his head and I admitted defeat, promising to bring Kait back the next day. She somberly headed for the truck and that same noisy girl yelled out a suggestion to try Boulder Bookstore. I had a feeling it was too late so I said "I think I'm giving up." I reached out to pull my door shut and a young man in business slacks and a white shirt was handing me the book. "Here you go ma'am have a great night." I stuttered which rarely happens and said "can I pay you?" His eyes wavered and then he looked in my back seat and said "no." Kait hadn't even processed it. I waved the book in her face and said "go hug that man! Go hug him right now!" As tears ran down my cheeks, Kait ran to the guy and hugged him. The group of young people erupted in oohs and ahs. She ran back to me and grabbed the poster and bounded out of the truck like a spring and ran back to him. This moment brought the house down with cheers and clapping. I can't really say how cool it was for him to see more value in making a little girls night and acting on it than hanging out with friends and taking home his new book. Thanks guy in the gray pants and white shirt. You were a very unexpected and exciting part of Kaits life.
Here she is the next morning all snuggled up with her book.
Kait became hooked on the idea of going to a midnight release party and researched all of the local bookstores for the very best, very most exciting party. After hearing B&N anticipated hundreds of people, she settled on 2nd & Charles.
Let me pause to say that nobody in my family has ever participated in a midnight release of anything. So we picked up her bestie with Kait in full regalia. Her enthusiasm was boundless. When we walked in I knew we were golden. Maybe 50 people milled around playing trivia and drinking butter beer. I figured they had hundreds of extra books. Kait won their costume contest handily with her saucy complex replies to every question she was asked about Potter and won a poster.
Finally, 12:00 neared and we stood in line doing the countdown to midnight like a bunch of loons. As we approached the counter I saw about half of the people being turned away. Dread. It turned out they were only giving people pre-ordered books. I got annoyed and asked the woman why nobody had told me that in the last three hours. She looked guiltily around and said "we only found out 2 minutes ago." We walked out and little Kait held back tears. I called B&N and they told me I had about 20 minutes. I decided to make a night of it, then I made a wrong turn. Ugh! Exactly 20 minutes later, by hook or crook we arrived at Barnes & Noble. The doors were locked. Our shoulders drooped. I felt so guilty for refusing to pre-order. A group of young millenials were standing around laughing and holding their bags with their Potter books and one girl yelled out for us to bang on the doors. We tried to no avail, so then she suggested we move closer to the registers and bang there, so we did. Finally, a manager unlocked the door shaking his head no. I begged him pretty please to sell her a book with my most soulful puppy dog look and the chatty girl in the background threw out reasons for hem to say yes. He weakened and said he would check the cafe and see if they still had a till open. He came back sorrowfully shaking his head and I admitted defeat, promising to bring Kait back the next day. She somberly headed for the truck and that same noisy girl yelled out a suggestion to try Boulder Bookstore. I had a feeling it was too late so I said "I think I'm giving up." I reached out to pull my door shut and a young man in business slacks and a white shirt was handing me the book. "Here you go ma'am have a great night." I stuttered which rarely happens and said "can I pay you?" His eyes wavered and then he looked in my back seat and said "no." Kait hadn't even processed it. I waved the book in her face and said "go hug that man! Go hug him right now!" As tears ran down my cheeks, Kait ran to the guy and hugged him. The group of young people erupted in oohs and ahs. She ran back to me and grabbed the poster and bounded out of the truck like a spring and ran back to him. This moment brought the house down with cheers and clapping. I can't really say how cool it was for him to see more value in making a little girls night and acting on it than hanging out with friends and taking home his new book. Thanks guy in the gray pants and white shirt. You were a very unexpected and exciting part of Kaits life.
Here she is the next morning all snuggled up with her book.
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