• Jan. 3, 2008
Mrs. Number 101
I suppose that all the craziness of the season has subsided for most of us. Ours was really not exceptionally busy; mostly I think I got a bit lazy in documenting it. I will recount for you, however, the event that I feared to post prior to Christmas. Feared to post, because I was afraid that my kids might actually read my blog on occasion and would discover their biggest Christmas gift.
On Wednesday, December 12, I took the little girls to Wednesday classes and fully expected to stay there for the Mom's Respite group. When I got there, Deb (the leader) was not there and group was cancelled for the day. Hmm, what do I do with 2 hours of time and no people to cart along with me? Ahhhh, Target, take me away!! I jumped into the van and took myself straight to Target. We needed toilet paper and stuff like that anyway, so the trip *did* have a purpose. As I found myself blissfully, peacefully, and therapeutically strolling up and down the aisles of Target, I wandered into the electronics department. Josh had made a comment that he sure would like a Wii for Christmas. "I'll bet you would. You and at least half of the other kids your age in America. Good luck buddy." And on this particular Wednesday, this particular Target had no Wii's available either. HOWEVER.........
The kid working the register was telling someone else that they were getting in a shipment of Wii's on Saturday night. I grabbed the kid by the shirt and proceeded to interrogate him as any good mother would. "When will this shipment be available?" "Sunday morning, first thing." "What time does the store open on Sunday morning?" "8am" "How many Wii's are expected in this shipment?" "About 20" To which an older, and more knowledgeable saleskid said, "No way goofball. This is a MAJOR shipment and there will be at least 60 units." (60 units, huh? This could be possible) "What time would I need to be here to be in line to make sure I actually get a Wii?" "Oh, if you're here by 7:15, I'm SURE you'll get one." (7:15? I don't think so. Gotta be here earlier than that. But HOW early?) (Do I REALLY want to do this????)
I went home with my toilet paper and laundry detergent and a plan formulating in my brain. I would go the extra mile for my kids and make a valiant, if not Herculean effort, to get a Wii for my kids for Christmas. As the week marched on, I kept an eye on the weather reports for the weekend. It was not looking good. Saturday night the weather was supposed to get frigidly cold AND to rain, snow. sleet, all that fun wintry mix stuff. Oh joy. Have I mentioned to you just how much I detest weather like that? No, well, I detest all the cold, rain, snow, sleet, wintry mix stuff.
Saturday night came and I asked my dear, darling husband if he might be willing to get up early and go stand out in the cold, nasty weather and get a Wii for the kids. "No." Point blank. He doesn't usually just say "no" flat out to me, so I knew it would be useless to try to persuade him. I would be the one to do this. I did not sleep well on Saturday night. The anticipation of what I intended to undertake was too much in the forefront of my mind for me to be able to sleep well. It was cold and extremely windy and raining very hard. I kept wondering if I really wanted to go stand outside in this mess. Would I be able to drive in this mess? Was it just rain or was it ice? Was it going to stop? Again, did I REALLY want to drag myself out of my nice, warm, king-sized bed and go out into the cold and wet rain? Are my kids REALLY worth this? I concluded that, yes, they are worth it to me.
I should have gotten up at 4am when I was doing my mental gymnastics, but somehow I persuaded myself to go back to sleep. I reawoke at 6am. I got up and got myself dressed in the warmest clothes I own and asked my darling one last time if he would be willing to do this for our kids, for me. "No." He rolled over and began to snore. Okay, here I go. It wasn't raining anymore when I left the house, but there was ice on the trees and there were a number of large tree branches down in the roads as I drove the 30 minutes from my house to Target. I decided that I was hungry and would risk a quick stop at McDonald's for breakfast. Well, they must have been gathering the eggs and milking the cows for the breakfast of the guy in front of me because it took *forever* for him to get his meal. Someone had pulled in behind me after I ordered, so I couldn't leave even though I was desperate to do so. I think I might have put a dent in my steering wheel. If this kept me from getting a Wii, I was really going to kick myself.
Finally, I got my measly little bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and my Dr. Pepper and headed the rest of the way to Target. Somehow I got behind a fearful little old someone who would not even drive remotely near the speed limit on the little 2 lane road between McDonald's and Target. Talk about frustrating!! As I pulled into Target, I noticed that the parking lot looked QUITE full for 7am on a Sunday morning. And that's when I saw it. I saw the LINE. The line that extended from the front door to around the side of the building. My heart sank. But, I proceeded to park my van and RUN to the line to get a number. My number was 102. Again, my heart sank. If they had gotten in 60 units, there was no way I was going to get one. I asked the guy how many units they had gotten. "Between 100 and 150." Wow. That trip to McD's could have been a deal-breaker if they only got 100. But, I got in line anyway. Across the parking lot there was a Best Buy with a long line too. Apparently, they had only gotten 87 units. People were coming from there to get into Target's line.
All of us in line were talking about who we were in line to buy for. It was a jovial bunch standing out in the cold, wet parking lot that morning. We found out that the guy who was number 1 in line had gotten there at 9pm the night before and had camped out at the front door all night long. We found out that a guy in line at Best Buy was willing to sell his spot in line for $200. We learned quite a bit about each other, not a single bit of which I remember today. Around 7:45am, a manager came down the line with "official" numbers. I moved up to number 101. When he came by, I just had to ask, "Do you know how many units you have this morning?" "Yes ma'am. We got 114 units." AND I GOT 101!! I did it!! I made it just in time!! You should have heard the groan of dispair that went up from the folks just 13 people behind me. It was officially 8:32am when I finally got through the front door and into the store. I had only had to endure about 15 minutes of cold drizzle before I got inside.
And so, my kids got a Wii for Christmas. I'm glad. I'm glad that I got up to brave the cold and the wind and the rain. I'm glad that I got there just in time. I have to admit, it's really tons of fun to play. I can do things on this machine that I could never do in real life. I have bowled a 205! I have shot a 40 on a 9 hole golf course. Then again, there are some things that one will just never master. Tennis; not my thing. I haven't even tried Boxing. But all in all, it's a lot of fun and it is a good fit for the wide range of ages we have in our family. I told my kids the story of how we actually got a Wii. They'll never truly appreciate it, but overall, maybe it wasn't such a big deal. Afterall, *I* didn't camp out all night long in the wind and the rain like Mr. Number 1 did. I got to stay in a warm, dry bed most of the night. And I ended up with exactly the same thing as Mr. Number 1. I just happened to be Mrs. Number 101!
Comments
• Jan. 3, 2008
Untitled Comment
Posted by Arby
And you got a greasy little bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and a Dr. Pepper, too. Wow! Talk about the winner of the mom of the year award! And to think that I was proud of the bellybutton lint remover that I got for my children...
...but I have to agree with your husband. I would have said, "NO!" too.
• Jan. 4, 2008
my husband said yes...
Posted by keeperathome44
well, actually it was all his idea. He got in line at 2:15 am (at our Toys R us) and was number 6 or so and they got in 25 units.
It was cold (for him, I was home sleeping) but he really wanted to do it and we got the kids a Wii too.
I like tennis!
• Jan. 6, 2008
You know, i did not know....
Posted by donna2238
that the WII game was such a hot commodity! My brother gave this to the kids over the summer. He asked and I said, whatever thinking it was just a "video game or something"! little did I know the depths to which a WONDERFUL mother would go to acquire this for her children. I almost feel guilty ours just showed up via UPS one day:0)!
Unbeknownst to our dc, my sister boght them THREE new games for Christmas. but, we have not had the chance to get together with her yet! they will be thrilled beyond belief and *I* will have something to hold over 'em to get schoolwork done in recored time!!! WOO HOO!
