We stopped by to visit Breezy on the Sunday after Halloween. She was stretched out on the couch. Life already seemed to have slowed down. Fall softball season was over and the craziness of the Halloween events were done.

When I was a kid we dressed up and went Trick or Treating once. Now the kids wear multiple costumes over a period of weeks and attend festivals everywhere, trunk or treat events at church parking lots, all culminated by the big trick or treat happening in their or someone else’s neighborhood.

It was nice to see that 5-year-old Breezy was wearing regular clothes, no make-up, and her beautiful hair was down. She looked so comfy. She expressed an interest in going with us. I said she could, but that we were tired and would just be hanging out at the house that day. I told her to pack a few things to keep herself entertained and we’d go. She put some things in a tiny, sparkly Minnie Mouse book bag that I bought her at Disneyland.  She climbed over her Papa and got in the back seat of the Jeep. She buckled herself in.

I said, “I know what you’ll like after Papa runs an errand.”  “What?,” she asked.  “A dipped cone from Dairy Queen!”  She agreed she’d like that.

Papa drove the Jeep up a small drive way of a wood framed house and got out. He walked to the back door.  I explained to Breezy, “Papa owns this house and once a month he comes to collect the rent from the people who live here.”  After a few minutes Papa returned, put a pile of cash in my lap, said “count that out” and drove off.

There was one one hundred dollar bill so I put it back in my lap, then begin to count out twenties, “20, 40, 60, 80, 2. 20, 40, 60, 80, 3……” and so on.   Breezy eventually said, “Can I see that hundred?” I handed it to her. She slipped it in her book bag and smiled at me.

It wasn’t long before she was asking if she could keep it.  Her Papa said she could. I looked at him. I said, under my breath, “What about Destiny?” Destiny is our other granddaughter who wasn’t with us. I said, “Are you going to share with your sister?”  She nodded her head yes.  Only a few seconds went by before she said, “Papa, I’m going to need another hundred.”

This is our smart and precious Breezy. I took a picture of her with the bill. That picture is worth more than a hundred bucks to me. Her happy face is priceless.

dmzh