Day 90 - EOQ

 Today is the 6th day of the 13th week, the 31st day of the 3rd month, the last day of the first quarter, and the 90th day of 2023.  

It is one of the busiest times of year for anyone who deals with accounting.

Today is also the final day of essay camp   After summarizing the information given to us, pointing out that if we did stages of writing, we can now complete an essay.  I was going just move on, maybe browsing the suggested readings, but then I noticed among the writing prompts was a suggestion that you tell how you once broke the law.

I'm a shoplifter.

Yup, it's true. 

My son was slow completing potty training.  Part of it was stubbornness on ;his part because he saw no reason to acquire a new habit, but a big part of it was that when I wasn't pushing it.  He had been diagnosed with a ventricular septimal defect in his heart, and major surgery was on the horizon.  There were so many doctor visits, so many tests, so much to process, that I was not going to push it.  But we kept trying, and if he said he had to go, I reacted immediately.  

One day Tommy and I went to Security Mall, which was very close to where we lived at the time, just for something fun to do on a hot summer day.  Of course, we did what I called "preventive potty" and went before we left the house.  There was a Barnes & Noble right outside the JC Penney's [one of the anchor stores] and I stopped there, and was avidly shopping.  Tommy was behaving himself very well, and I had my hands full of about seven books, when he suddenly loudly announced that he had to pee and had to pee really bad.  I knew there was a ladies room on the second floor on Penny's and I rushed out of the bookstore, dragging the boy with me, got upstairs, made it to the ladies room, got into a stall and put down the books....   

Yup, I ran out of the bookstore with about $45 worth of books in my hand.  

When Tommy was done, I returned to the bookstore and rather sheepishly approached the counter, stuttering an explanation.  The lady [ I learned later it was the manager] asked if we had made it to the bathroom on time.  Yes, they had seen that I was taking the books without paying them, but made the decision not to stop me because it was so obvious to them why I was running like that.  Of course, it helped that they also recognized me as I had bought things before, but I was both grateful and impressed they were willing to take the risk that I would return and pay for the things I had just shoplifted rather than trying to stop me and making a scene, or calling Security.  

Oh, and yes, after the open heart surgery and turning four years old in the hospital intensive care, my son did become fully potty trained through the night.