My children and I were out running errands this past Wednesday when I saw a little boy ask his mama for some candy in a gumball machine. As she reached into her purse, it occurred to me I had just received some change from paying for my purchases. I quickly walked over, smiled, and put a quarter in the machine for her.
The look on the little boy's face and the gratitude from his mom for this small gesture gave me a fun idea: What if we drove around town and put quarters in all of the "gumball" machines we could think of?
And so that's what we did!
We started by changing in dollars for quarters from the customer service cashier and then casually made our way to the machines where we slipped a quarter into each slot...and then walked away. My kids and I were giddy, thinking about the reactions children would have when they found the machines all ready to be turned.
At the second location we filled all of the machines that cost a quarter and a few of the 75c ones as well. (I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to the guardian of the child who gets the GIANT fruit-shaped gumball...I just couldn't pass up the opportunity of causing a child's eyes to turn into saucers as a piece of candy that size rolled out into his or her hand.)
When I thought we had hit all of locations I turned to my children and asked them if they could think of any more (besides our Piggly Wiggly that gives well-behaved children free tokens for their machines at the end of each visit). My daughter said, "There's one in the hardware store daddy always makes me go to. I bet a kid would love to find one there!"
And so we made one more stop.
I had to ask the worker to trade me two dimes and a nickel for a quarter because I had exhausted our quarter supply over the course of our last few stops. I put the quarter in and then turned to walk away when the man working the counter next to it gave me a quizzical look. I explained that my daughter wanted to surprise a child that had come into the store with a free gumball. He loved the idea and my daughter enjoyed knowing someone would be watching for the lucky little boy or girl's reaction.
What a fun way to spend an hour on a Wednesday afternoon!
"Candy is childhood, the best and bright moments you wish could have lasted forever." - Dylan Lauren
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