Can You Keep a Secret?

I've told the following story to several people so the main reason I am retelling it here is because I know I won't remember it 10 years from now without the benefit of my blog to remind me that the event took place at all, and it's just too funny to forget!

Let me set the stage: Tyler LOVES to go to Barnes & Noble due to the overwhelming number of literary offerings that simply cannot be accessed through the anemic Arlington Public Library system. Okay, the stage is set.

I mentioned in my previous entry that I spent the night at the youth minister's home Friday night, but the youth event for which I was a sponsor actually began at 3:00 p.m. The teens hung out at Jonathan and Sherri's house for several hours and then they loaded up in the church bus and went to look at Christmas lights. Unbeknownst to the teens, the parents of all the kids had been asked to provide a gift worth no more than $20 that would be left at the house by "Santa" in the kids' absence.

There is a series of Star Wars graphic novels that Tyler checks out at the library periodically, but a trip to Barnes & Noble once opened up a whole new world for him when he realized that there are four to five times the number of offerings in existence than he was even aware of. He has asked for these books on numerous occasions but the problem is, they are flat-out expensive. But I had to have a gift, and I decided there was no time like the present to give him a "fix."

I should mention that Sawyer was with me on my excursion to purchase Tyler's surprise gift, but I wasn't worried because he has been keeping mum about the girls' you-know-whats (I can't say it here because they read my blog on occasion) for more than two months and has proven himself to be a good secret-keeper. So I perused the shelf of graphic novels and while I was engrossed in the more in-depth versions, Sawyer was looking at several of the Clone Wars novels and, predictably, he asked if he could get his "favorite" one. (These were the ones the boys get from the library.) I suppose I was feeling magnanimous because I consented to let him get his very favorite one, and we made our way to the checkout counter.

On the way home I reminded Sawyer that the book for Tyler was to be a surprise and that he wasn't to breathe a word about our shopping trip. He assured me that he had a "special place" in his brain where he puts secrets and that he would just put it in there. It was hilarious, actually. And then he took his book home and read it from cover to cover and hardly let it go the entire afternoon. And sure enough, when the time came for us to pick the kids up to school, the Clone Wars novel went along for the ride.

We got to school and Tyler came bounding into the van at which point Sawyer nearly went ballistic and said, "Tyler! Tyler! Look what I got from Barnes and Noble! Look! I got a Clone Wars novel!" Tyler, not surprisingly, turned his sad puppy-dog eyes on me and said, "Did I get anything?" To which Sawyer chirped, "Yes, Tyler, you did, but it's a surprise!"

Time to find a new secret-keeper.


Ho Ho Ho!