I took Sophie to a Christmas Fair at a local church over the weekend. She had slept over and helped me get out my Christmas decorations and then we decided it would be fun to see what surprises were at the fair.
The church was in the next town; Sophie was deep in thought and quite excited as we drove there. However, she was a bit intimidated when we walked into a crowded hall filled with tables of the all-too-common baked goods, crocheted hats and mittens, handmade wreaths, et cetera. I was disappointed too as we made our way around the aisles, nothing new under the sun.
Finally, her little face lit up as we came upon a very large display of stuffed animals, toys, Disney princesses and children's games. This was the Children's Raffle table. I quickly plunked down $3 for a book of tickets which we then placed into little tin containers at whatever item seemed to catch her fancy. The whole selection process took around 15 minutes; Sophie is a discerning shopper. I loved watching her read some of the descriptions of the prizes and then making her choices. It was fun for both of us and we left with high hopes that just maybe Sophie would be lucky and win one of the kiddie prizes. She reminded me that she had never "won" anything and did I think it could happen? I assured her that we had a fairly good chance with the many tickets we had dropped into the cans.
As I was tucking her in that night, Sophie asked again if I thought she might win a prize. I told her we would know the next morning. However, when I got home later that night, I found a voice mail on my cell phone. Sure enough! Church lady telling me that Sophie had won "a doggie".
It was past midnight and too late to tell Sophie the good news. Instead, I drove back to the church the next morning to collect the prize and then surprise her. I wanted to see her face when I walked in with her stuffed doggie.
I'm so glad that I didn't tell her ahead of time.
I arrived at the church, stood in line with other prize winners, handed the winning ticket in, and lady went to find the toy. She looked and looked but couldn't find the doggie I was told to claim. I then rounded that table of prizes, searching in vain for the winning number. Finally, we saw that this doggie had a twin and there were two winners. The other winner had probably picked up both mutts by mistake. Or not. Maybe she just decided to be greedy.
A 12-mile round trip and I came up with nothing. Nada. Woman said she'd call the other winner later that day to track the missing pooch. Don't think it happened; I never got a phone call one way or another.
Sophie almost knew the joy of winning. Almost. I didn't have the heart to tell her. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
Her little doggie is out there somewhere. Hope he found a good home.
I just wish he had been waiting for me.
3 comments:
Oh, that's so sad. Surely karma will ensure that Sophie's next win is something really wonderful.
any chance of picking a similar one up and passing it off as the winner? She did, after all, win it fair and square.
Actually, something like that happened. The raffle lady finally phoned me and left "the doggie and his red blanket" for pickup at a local rectory.
However, once I compared the raffle number on the item, I knew what they did. Someone never claimed this little guy 'cause he definitely had a different winning number. So he got to come home with me!
I have yet to surprise Sophie. Soon. May blog about it and take a photo of the "doggie that nobody wanted". I know he'll get a good home with Soph.
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