I have been traveling calling on customers for over 25 years. I spend at least 2 nights a week on the road. I became tired of eating supper at restaurants a long, long time ago. So, I normally go to the supermarket and buy a sandwich and eat in my hotel room. This evening when I was getting my sandwich, I strolled into the self-check “corral” at the grocery store with my sandwich and a 4 year old boy saw me and growled, “Arrrggh!” He had spotted a pirate! So I smiled at him and growled, “Argh” back. He was thrill and started “Arghing” at me with enthusiasm. I responded with some familiar pirate sayings like, “I’ll have you swabbing the deck!” And “shiver me timbers” and other such, probably not very authentic, pirate jargon.
All of a sudden he threw his arms open and, in his pirate voice, blurted out, “Give me a hug!” At this point I realized that this youngster did not understand how dangerous pirates are! . . . much less strangers in the grocery store he had never seen before!
I looked at his dad who seemed ok with it so I gave the boy a hug, and laughed all the way to my pickup truck in the parking lot.
Kids are cool.
Kids are the best!