Throughout our entire marriage, including our entire time as parents, we have lived close to either Sidney’s family or my family. Because of this, we have enjoyed many perks, but one specifically stands out:

Free babysitting.

These kids have benefitted from a lot of free babysitting over the years.Because of the willingness of our parents to watch our kids when we have a commitment or just want to enjoy a date night, we have not had the need to hire a traditional babysitter. However, this past week a work-related function popped up that allowed Sidney to attend as my date. Not wanting to bother my parents as they had watched Sloan and Beau just the day before, I decided to commission a babysitter.

I inquired about babysitting services on our neighborhood Facebook page and within hours I had someone hired for the next night (Friday). That evening (Thursday), the babysitter and her stepmom came over for a quick meet-and-greet. Thankfully, they found our family normal enough and the sitter accepted the job.

Although it was a little strange to pay for babysitting and confine ourselves to returning home at a certain time, the positives truly outweighed the negatives—at least for this time. Here are just five quick reasons why:

Excited kids – From the moment Sloan and Beau met the babysitter (a sophomore who attends the high school right next to our house) they loved her. The next day, they asked non-stop when she would be over. They got themselves so worked up with excitement that just before the sitter arrived, Sloan confessed to me, “I am a little nervous, daddy.”

Opportunity for Sitter – I realize I am probably giving ourselves too much credit, but it was our hope that hiring the sitter would also benefit her as well. Some quick cash for spending a few hours with an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old probably isn’t the worst thing in the world, right? Granted, our sitter probably didn’t have the easiest clients to watch so I don’t want to put words into her mouth.

Role Model – My kids LOVED the time they got to spend with the sitter. She challenged Sloan in chess, played Roblox with both kids, fixed our Nintendo Switch, and left our kids asking when she could come back again. To have a high school-aged individual come to our house and give so much attention to Sloan and Beau in a way that left them positively mesmerized was worth every penny.

Connections – Although us reaching out to the sitter was initially a “business” opportunity, it also led to some personal connections. First, it introduced us to a family in our ever-growing neighborhood we didn’t know beforehand. Then, when we met them the night before the babysitting job, something really cool was realized: it just so happens that the sitter’s stepmom works at Traveler’s Insurance just like Sidney! It was really neat to know that someone else in the ‘hood reports to the same building that Sid does every morning.

Break For Grandparents – Our parents go out of their way to watch the kids and they become offended whenever we consider a babysitter. But they also watch the kids of my siblings as well and despite their kindness and assurance that we don’t take their babysitting efforts for granted, we never want to overdo it. To have a babysitter on retainer is a good thing.

—————

We are really thankful to the young lady who babysat for us last week. It was also important for Sid and me to go through what most couples do when they want to enjoy a night out. Finally, it also helped us value even more the care our parents have provided to their grandchildren over the years. Don’t Blink.

Today is National Sandwich Day but to be honest, I am not much of a sandwich guy. Granted, I do like them (well, at least some of them), but probably not to the degree of the average person. I learned to get along with Subway quite nicely, but a sandwich has never been my favorite.

Why is this? I think it comes down to the fact that I hate mayonnaise and most other condiments. It never fails, whenever sandwiches are offered at an event or sack lunches are distributed, they are usually coated with some type of white paste. Sorry, can’t do it. I am also not a fun of tomatoes and pickles on sandwiches—veggies that always seem to be placed between two slices of bread.

However, there are a few sandwiches that I do really enjoy. I thought I would list these three options to show that I really don’t have a vendetta against America’s favorite lunch staple (and no, a hot dog is not a sandwich, so it won’t be included on this countdown).

I like sandwiches but they aren’t my favorite.

3. Grilled Cheese – We grew up with grilled cheese sandwiches when I was a kid. My mom would pair them with Top Ramen and I would gobble them up. Now that I am an adult, I have built a reputation among my kids as the world’s best maker of grilled cheese sandwiches. Making the cheese the perfect consistency of gooey is an art and I feel like I have perfected it.

I ordered this grilled cheese sandwich at a restaurant called the Red Monkey in Walla Walla.

2. Meatball Sandwich – I remember eating a meatball sandwich for the first time and thinking, “Where has this been my whole life?” Although “my whole life” was probably only 8 or 9 years at that time, I loved the combined taste of meatballs, zesty marinara sauce, provolone cheese, and fresh bread. My grandpa’s restaurant made the best meatball sandwich but I never complained about Subway’s version either, but of course that was when $5 footlongs were still a thing.

This was a meatball sandwich I ordered at a restaurant in North Carolina.

1. Peanut Butter Sandwich – To know me is to be aware that I eat a peanut butter sandwich almost every weekday for lunch. I have done this for years and years. Two pieces of white bread + crunchy peanut butter. Co-workers both past and present have admired me and teased me relentlessly for this habit. Although once forbidden, I do add jelly every now and then. A peanut butter sandwich is a sandwich in its most pure form and you will never see someone even think about putting mayonnaise on one.

Me with a peanut butter sandwich that I ate for lunch during the late 2010s.

——————

I ate my peanut butter sandwich for lunch today and took a moment to remember this special day. If you can squeeze in your own tribute for National Sandwich Day perhaps you can have one for dinner or have an excuse to make a late-night snack. Don’t Blink.

It is another childhood memory that I remember vividly. I was probably 10 and I was at the grocery store with my mom. We checked out and as we exited through the first set of automatic doors and into the space with shopping carts and drink machines, I noticed a claw game. This particular claw game was filled with stuffed animals and a determined woman was stationed at the machine.

I noticed she was actually playing the game, not just jerking the joy stick back and forth while the claw was disabled like my quarter-less brother and I would do. She had fed the game a couple dollars and seemed to be pretty close to dropping the claw in precisely the right spot. However, an inch or two is everything and she reached for new bills once or twice more. By the time she was probably $5 in—a fortune to me—she deployed the claw and it grasped a stuffed animal. I held my breath as the claw elevated the toy and shakily maintained its grip until dropping it into the prize chute.

Without even celebrating or smiling, she pushed open the prize door, grabbed the stuffed animal, handed it to me, and walked through the second set of automatic doors and into the parking lot.

—–

Just like when you win the first time at gambling, watching someone win at the claw game can be intoxicating. I thought I could replicate her feat and tried constantly over the next couple years. However, after not coming close to winning a prize at local arcades and stores, I came to my senses in the same way I did about casinos—I was just wasting my money.

Unfortunately, my kids are still in the stage I found myself stuck in for two years. They feel like they have a chance to actually win at the claw game. Unless it is one of the “play until you win” candy claw games where you can win a single, hard Tootsie Roll that wouldn’t even retail for a penny, I have tried to convince them that these games are practically rigged.

You see, the chances of pulling anything out of the prize area of a claw game seem like zilch. These days, the claws themselves are finicky, cheap, and weak. A human hand would have a better chance at catching lightning than a claw would have at catching a prize. A couple years ago, I actually vented my frustration about claw games when unloading on the modern day racket known as the American arcade.

On Saturday night, I must have been in a good mood. Despite watching my kids waste so much money on claw machines over the past few years, I decided to reward them for semi-good behavior at Red Robin. As we left the restaurant, instead of gravitating to the balloons, Sloan and Beau huddled around the new claw game that I guess Red Robin felt compelled to install. It was a rare instance when I actually had a dollar on me so I decided to feed the machine.

In another rare anomaly, Beau conceded to Sloan to take the turn. I kid you not: I had already turned my head as Sloan lined up to drop the claw because I wanted to spare myself the sight of her badly missing. But as I listened to the claw deploy with my eyes facing the opposite direction, I heard it actually latch onto something. I turned around to see that the claw had clutched a stuffed dinosaur. I watched in disbelief as the grip remained and the dinosaur was successfully dropped and deposited into the prize chute. Sloan had won a prize on her first and only try.

My daughter then retrieved the prize and handed it to her brother—completely unaided by me. I didn’t know what was more miraculous: Sloan winning at the claw game or giving her prize away to her younger sibling.  Beau walked out of Red Robin hugging his new stuffed animal.

Beau holds the stuffed dinosaur his sister won for him while playing the claw game at Red Robin.

Once in a blue moon, a claw machine can actually render some joy. Don’t Blink.