saving the gulf, one lemonade stand at a time

The garage sale that we had from Wednesday-Friday was a triple shot of crazy, because our neighbors behind and next to us both had a garage sale. So between us all, there was several sunburns, a huge mass of stuff waiting to be bought, lots of change, and ~~several cups of coffee~~ a lot of coffee.

Our next door neighbor's kids, Ireland and Liam, held a lemonade stand where all the profits would go to helping save the gulf. Grace and Brennan and our neighbor, Belle (whose mom held the sale behind us) helped with the lemonade stand. A lot of giggles drifted from their stand near the road, and sticky fingers tapped impatiently, waiting for sales. They were so cute. Melted my heart in a bunch of sticky mush that made me remember when I used to do that; sitting out in the hot sun and hoping that someone would stop, yet completely freaking out that someone actually would. I didn't have an umbrella though. They did it in much better style than me.

They were so impatient waiting for people to come. And when people did come, you should have seen them. Their voices softened, their laughs quieted and they had the cutest smiles ever. They handed over the lemonade or pop or fruit juice sweetly, grinning as they plunked the change into the money bucket, just loving that clinking noise it made.

And a little bit into it, someone else decided to join in. There was a little competition going on there...some water wars in the making.

He would stare at the cars as they drove by and he watched the people passing, eagerly hoping that they'd stop and grab a water from him. From him, the kiddo with no sign, no indication that he was selling liquids other than a plastic box turned upside down and a bunch of water bottles piled on top. When they passed by or stopped at the other stand, he gave out a big sigh and his shoulders drooped.

That poor, sweet kiddo.

So we compensated for him. And ended up buying all of his waters. I had no change, so I bought a bottle with a half-eaten godiva chocolate.