26 November 2019

[Bess Tuggle's Memoirs of Surviving Children] - Merry Sparkles!

“Yes, there was glitter EVERYWHERE!!!  It was on the tables, on the walls, in the carpet, through the halls…  EVERYWHERE!” 

The story of hand-made snow globes really didn’t stop at my last column, I just got so wrapped up in that story I forgot to share some funny details.  (If you’re scratching your head in confusion, check out my column last Monday).

Our Cub Scout Pack was sponsored by a very nice local church.  When I say “local,” I mean something out in the boonies, but they were kind enough to share their facilities with us, and we all appreciated it.

There was a Fellowship hall where we met as a Pack, shared awards, news, upcoming events... then broke up through a small hallway, which went down about 4 steps, turned right to another hallway, and held the classrooms which we used as our “Dens.”

That hallway provided a LOT of entertainment, for the kids and adults alike.

After our lovely snow-globe project, located in each den (classroom), we had an awfully big mess to clean up.  And yep, the hallway was the worst.

My best friend, bless her heart, volunteered to vacuum the hall in attempt to keep the sparkly mess from spreading, kinda like the flu.

Wouldn’t you know it, a couple other leaders got in on that cleaning that mess.  My buddy is one smart cookie (former GM technician and loader of pigs onto a trailer with a broken truck hitch – probably more on that later).  She also trusted a couple fellow leaders to her detriment.

While vacuuming the hallway for glitter, the vacuum died.  Just on, then off.  She checked the power switch, amongst other things, then looked back behind her.  Wouldn’t you know there was another leader with the power cord in his hand.  He picked it up, doubled it over like you would a garden hose to stop the water, and grinned. 

After getting her “evil eye,” and knowing that couldn’t really happen, the leader uncrimped the cord, and the vacuuming continued.  Several times.

But not for too long.

My vacuuming friend finally got fed up with the power outages.  She turned the vacuum off, even though it wasn’t working at the time, and stomped to the end of the hall.  There she beheld the leader crimping the cord, and another around the corner, pulling the plug out each time he saw the cord crimped. 

I think they’ve all recovered, unless a chronic case of the giggles at the memory counts as an ailment.   

Merry Sparkles, Ya’ll! 

Wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving, and hope you take the time to have a lil’ fun, too.

Merry Sparkles!

- Bess Tuggle