4732 Tickets

"I have 4732 tickets and I want 3 super sized tennis balls, 20 foam dice, 20 bungy key rings, 20 popper balls, 6 hackie sacks, 30 army men, 3 suckers, 2 mini slinkies, and one bouncy ball."

Okay, let me back up.

My sweet, older brother Larry contracted encephalitis at the age of 12 and has dealt with its effects ever since.  Larry's life pleasures are few and paltry in comparison to most people. However tonight one of his simple pleasures was the foundation for giving pleasure to many others.  

One of Larry's delights is eating out.  And one of his favorite places to eat out is Stevie B's Pizzeria.  That is because after he eats all the pizza he wants from the buffet, Larry can buy tokens and play arcade games.  Larry loves skeet ball!  With the playing of arcade games at Stevie B's comes the winning of tickets.  And tickets mean prizes.

About two years ago, Larry started saving his Stevie B's tickets.  There was an item worth 2500 plus tickets that he wanted.  By the time Larry reached his target, the item was no longer available.  Meanwhile, he kept playing games and saving tickets.  He reached over 4000 tickets when he decided that there was nothing in the Stevie B's prize shop that he really wanted.  That's when Larry offered them to me.  He thought maybe I could find some toys for my kids at the preschool.  

So tonight after enjoying pizza with my family, I headed to the Stevie B's prize shop with Larry's 4700 some tickets.  With the help of my mom and the delightful Stevie B's employee (who had never seen one person with SO many tickets), I went on a shopping spree.  I looked at the options and envisioned how I could use the items in my classroom. It was so much fun!  Having chose to work for non-profits most of my adult life, extravagant shopping has never been one of my pleasures.  It was fun to be able to say, "I want one of that, two of that, and 20 of that!!!   By the way, 2 of the suckers and the 2 mini slinkies were for the little kids eyeing the prizes while I was shopping.  It was great to feel like Daddy Warbucks and say, "give those kids a slinky and a sucker too!"  The other sucker and the bouncy ball were my thank you gifts to my brother.

Larry was so proud that he could give something for "my kids" at school. He had the pleasure of giving and feeling valuable.  I had the pleasure of being extravagant.   The Stevie B's employee had the pleasure of watching someone considered among the "least" do something really big.   My kids at school will have the pleasure of  new toys.   All of that pleasure from a bunch of arcade tickets.  Who would have thought!